The Silence After the Storm
by King Kamor
Summary: I've decided to come back to this fanfic, so I wrote chapter 19, and plan to finish the story. Summary: the group of heroes goes on a vacation across the newly-reformed world. Sheloyd, Zelaine, and PietroxKate. Constructive criticism is appreciated.
1. Damn Riots! Hole in the Wall

**The Silence After the Storm**

Author's note: Sweet! I've finally put this up! I hope that you enjoy it and/or comment on it. This is my first fanfic, so please be gentle.

Summary: After the fight with Mithos and calming down all of the people of Symphonia, our heroes are so tired that they're aching in places they didn't even know they had. Luckily, Regal and Zelos have cooked up a solution to all of their problems.

* * *

Chapter 1: Damn Riots! Hole in the Wall

After what seemed like an eternity, Lloyd the Eternal Swordsman and his companions defeated the evil angel Mithos. They united the two worlds of Tethe Alla and Sylvarant, and germinated the Great Seed. All nine of these heroes were exhausted from the battle and the political problems after the union of the worlds. Territories clashed, villages rose up in protest, and the Great Tree seemed to wither a slightly within a week of it's re-awakening. Luckily, Lloyd and company said a speech in Meltokio to all of the people living on Symphonia-- humans, half-elves and elves alike. Almost immediately after the speech was delivered, word quickly spread all around the world, and nobody raised a finger in protest.

It has been two weeks since defeating Mithos, and everything seemed to have calmed down once again, but the heroes were tired from all of their recent good deeds. All of them were now resting at an inn in Meltokio. They were in the lobby, taking up most of the room and leaving little for any other guests. Lloyd was sprawled on an armchair, Colette was napping on a couch, Genis, Presea, and Raine were sitting next to the fireplace, Regal, Kratos, and Zelos were ordering food from the innkeeper, and Sheena was sitting on a small stool next to Lloyd. They would have gone to Zelos's mansion had they enough energy to climb up the stairs to the nobles area of Meltokio. Wow. Poor them.

"I'm too tired to sleep!" Lloyd shouted, flailing his arms around while sitting in the armchair.

"At least we've done some good to keep our promise to the Spirit of the Great Tree by keeping the violence down to a bare minimum," Kratos pointed out, coming back from the innkeeper's counter.

"That may be so, but all of us still have things to do!" Lloyd pointed out, "Sheena and I have to go on the journey to destroy all of the exspheres, Raine and Genis have to go and help stop half-elf discrimination, Regal has the Lezareno company to be in charge of, and Zelos needs to go back to doing…" he paused. "Uh… What did Zelos do before we met him?" He asked.

"Why, go back to my beautiful hunnies, of course!" Zelos chimed in with his usual sarcastic voice, walking back into the lobby with Regal.

"Then why don't you?" Regal asked, "You've had ample time to go back to your mansion and see some girls, you know."

"You don't understand!" Everybody looked at him oddly… then again they always looked at him oddly. "I can't go out to flirt with girls like this! I wouldn't be caught dead! My clothes are stained with sweat and blood from previous battles, and with all of the damn riots, I haven't been able to change my clothes once since we killed Mithos!" Everybody shot out in different directions away from Zelos. Accept for Colette, who was still sleeping on the couch.

"You can't be serious!" Sheena shouted in disgust.

"You're filthy man inside _and_ out!" Genis yelled.

"Zelos… doesn't seem to have a sense of smell…" Presea said with her monotonous voice that she always had.

"EW! He stinks!" Lloyd exclaimed as he pinched his nose.

"Such uncleanliness…" Kratos said, putting his hand on his forehead.

"I think that I'll go up to my room to escape the fumes," Regal said as he dashed up the stairs.

"Sniff you guys're being mean!" Zelos fake-whined.

"Screw this! I call upon the maiden of the mist!" Sheena chanted.

"Oh shit!" Zelos yelled in horror, his eyes wider than dinner plates.

"I summon thee! Come! Undine!"

Undine appeared and said, "What do you ask of me, pact-maker?"

"Clean up that pervert!" Sheena shouted.

"As you wish," and a pillar of water welled up underneath Zelos's feet and burst forth like a geyser, absolutely drenching him and everybody else in the room. Undine disappeared so as not to take the blame.

Kratos wrung out the spikey cape thing he has and said, "I Take it we're paying for the water damage..." Zelos later took a hot bath while Raine washed his clothes outside the inn. Colette slept through the whole thing.

* * *

Early the next day, before sunrise, Sheena was gazing outside of the window in her room. Beyond the walls that surrounded Meltokio, the grassy plains could be seen like a vast ocean of green grass waving in the wind. The wind was chilly, but she seemed to be too deep in thought to notice. What should she do now that everything has settled down? Should she go to Mizuho and revive her damaged ninja clan? Or should she go on a journey with Lloyd to destroy all of the world's exspheres? These thoughts radiated about her mind when she heard a knock on her door. 

"Come in," Sheena said, still looking out the window. She heard the door open and close.

"Hi," She heard an utterly familiar voice say to her. She whirled around and saw Lloyd walking towards her from the entrance to her room.

"Oh! Uh, hey Lloyd!" She said, her face turning a light red. She turned back to the window so as not to let him see her blushing face. He walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. Sheena felt his warmth, and calmed down a bit. She put her hand on his and closed her eyes.

"Does anybody expect a thing about us?" Lloyd asked calmly.

"Not a thing, Lloyd. We'll tell them eventually, though, so don't worry." She squeezed his hand a little tighter. Just as she did so, the edge of the sun broke through the horizon and cast a golden shine on their faces.

"It's a beautiful morning," Lloyd said, putting an arm around Sheena's waist and looking at the sunrise over her shoulder.

Sheena opened her eyes happily and said, "There are few things in the world that are this beautiful…" Lloyd smiled and thought, _You know what I'm going to say, don't you? That same corny line; 'I can think of something more beautiful than this,' and then try to take advantage of you. I'm not Zelos, so I just won't say it._ Then, Sheena turned her head towards Lloyd's, their faces mere inches apart. Their eyes were half-closed, and they started to lean towards each other. "Lloyd… I--"

"GOOOOOOOD MORNING, MY VOLUPTUOUS HUNNY!" Zelos shouted in joy as he came crashing through the door of Sheena's room. He seemed to want to wake the dead, as well as everybody else in the inn. When they saw him, Sheena pushed Lloyd away from her; she didn't want anybody to find out about them yet. Zelos looked into the room and saw Lloyd's head embedded in the wall, probably sticking out the other side into the next room. Sheena was standing in front of him with her arm outstretched from pushing him.

Sheena looked over at Zelos, sweating with embarrassment, "Uh… And _that's_ what you get for trying to make a move on me!" She acted out, thrusting a finger in Lloyd's direction. Lloyd pulled his head out of the hole and sat up.

"Uh… Sorry?" Lloyd said with confusion. A loose plank of wood fell on his head. "Ow."

"Ooooh, and what happened here?" Zelos said slyly, putting his hand to his chin, "You couldn't resist a feel, either, could you, Bud?" He smiled and walked over to Lloyd and helped him up.

"Don't compare me to you!" Lloyd scolded in annoyance.

"Sheesh! Touchy, touchy!" Zelos said, putting his hands up in front of himself with a playful smile. "Anyway, you two are probably wondering why I'm here."

"That among other things," Sheena shot a glare in Zelos's direction. _What do you mean 'You couldn't resist a feel, either?'_ She thought.

"Regal and I were thinking that everybody's really tired from all of the politics and crap as of late, so he's made a proposition for everyone."

"What kind of proposition?" Lloyd asked, though he didn't really know what 'proposition' meant.

Zelos smiled and pulled eight pieces of paper out of his pocket, and brandished them in front of Sheena and Lloyd for them to see. They seemed to be… tickets? "A week's stay at the Altamira resort, a private decked-out EC cruise for on the way there as well as freedom of all of Altamira's services. Including viewing me in a speedo!" SLAP! "Following the week in Altamira, a cruise to all of the best locales in the reunited world! All expenses paid, no strings attached! Courtesy of the Lezareno company president, Duke Bryant!" He proclaimed with joy, a red hand mark throbbing on his cheek.

Lloyd and Sheena immediately snatched the tickets from him and stidied them vegorously, to see if they were real. They couldn't believe that Regal had done all of this on such short notice!

"By the Goddess! This is incredible!" Sheena shouted, jumping with joy.

"We're really going on a trip like that?"

"What do you think I just said?" Zelos said happily, "Anyway, you two are the first to know, so let's go and tell everyone!" Suddenly, a large section of the wall around the hole collapsed, leaving a hole the size of a doorway connecting Sheena's room and the empty one next door. The three of them looked at it blankly.

" I take it we're paying for this?" Sheena said with a sigh.

"Well, you can't exactly ask Regal for any favors right about now," Zelos pointed out with his usual smile.

"Crap…" Lloyd added, putting his hand on his forehead.

* * *

There you have it, the first chapter to my first fanfic. I hope that you liked it. You can tell it's a bit rushed, can't you? That's because I have finals this week, so I'm sunk with studying. Anyway, please read and any constructive criticism is greatly appreciated. until next time. 

**King Kamor**


	2. IOU a Cruise

A/N: thank you for all of those reviews.(both of you!XD) They really made me feel better about my writing abilities. Next is the characters leaving the inn and to what Zelos called a "decked out" EC. Back to the story!

Chapter 2: I.O.U. a Cruise

When Lloyd, Sheena, and Zelos woke everybody up and told them about the trip, all of them were ecstatic. Colette flew around her room happily, Presea and Kratos thanked Regal profusely, Genis leapt up and down on his bed, and Raine slapped him for acting so childish. All of them marveled at the thought of finally taking a break from their hectic lives. They all sat at a table in the in lobby and ate breakfast with thoughts of relief in their minds.

"I still can't believe that you did this for us, Regal!" Genis yelled with joy as he grabbed another piece of toast from the plate on the table.

"It's the least that I could do for the one's who saved Tethe Alla and Sylvarant," Regal said modestly, "Not to mention the fact that you helped me to avenge my dear Alicia."

"You didn't have to go through all of this trouble, though," Raine said after swallowing some egg. She shuddered and thought, _But why an EC, of all things? Why not just use the rheairds?_

"What are you talking about? Of course he did!" Zelos shouted jokingly, standing up from his chair with his hands on the table. Raine slapped him across the face, and he sat down. "Don't worry, my gorgeous hunny! The touch of your hand is like a kiss being bestowed upon me by your soft, tender lips." He did this with a kind of formal bow in his chair.

"Should I use my staff, then?" Raine said with her eyes closed in annoyance, placing another bite of egg in her mouth. Everybody laughed at her remark as well as when Zelos scooted his chair out of Raine's horrible staff-wielding radius.

After they finished eating, everyone packed what they had and left the inn. Raine packed her two-piece swim suit, and carried her staff with her as a walking stick and anti-Zelos weapon. Zelos kept several breath mints in his pocket on the opposite side he hung his sword, and carried some shampoo and conditioner in his bag. Regal put on a businessman-like suit, and put his old clothes, including his shackles, in his pack. The shackles were kept as a reminder, in case the scars on his wrists weren't reminder enough. He hung a cooking pan on the side of his pack in case the need would arise. Genis and Presea shared a pack, since their spare clothes and swimsuits didn't take up nearly as much room as the others, but Presea's axe had to be put somewhere else. All of them left the inn with Lloyd and Sheena trailing behind them. As Sheena and Lloyd stepped out the door, the innkeeper stopped them.

"Wait a second! You still need to pay me back for the hole you made in my wall!" The innkeeper shouted.

"I thought that I covered it up, though?" Lloyd said, scratching the back of his head.

"Moving the wardrobe in front of it wasn't what I had in mind!" He put out his hand as if to take something from Lloyd, "Now give me the gald that I need to repair it!"

"Uhm…" Lloyd paused, "we're kind of low on gald right now, and our rich friend already has a tight budget with his company as well as the trip he's funding, so--"

"I don't care! I'll be short two rooms if that gargantuan hole isn't repaired, and I need gald to do that, and do get gald, I need all of my rooms open for guests! Now hand over the gald! I don't care if you are the heroes that saved Tethe Alla, my own life comes first." He said it so sternly that Lloyd was a little shocked at his words.

"Well, uh," Sheena stood next to Lloyd, and looked at him, unsure of what to do. She gestured for him to huddle next to her. She whispered, "What do we do? We have next to no gald!"

"I'm not sure, but I looks like the others are already halfway to the EC port next to the Grand Tethe Alla bridge. We have to get away and catch up with them!" Lloyd pointed out.

"But how? This guy won't let us out of Meltokio without us paying him!"

Lloyd thought for a moment, and finally said, "I have an idea. Escape pattern Beta!" Sheena nodded, and they faced the innkeeper with blank faces.

"Well?" The innkeeper said impatiently.

"Look! A distraction!" Lloyd and Sheena shouted, pointing behind the innkeeper frantically.

"What?" The innkeeper looked behind himself back at his inn. _Waaaaaaaiiiit a minute…_ he thought, and turned back around towards Loyd and Sheena. They were already long gone out through the gates of Meltokio with dust kicking up behind them. "Dammit!" He shouted, stomping the ground violently and waving his arms in the air, people around him gave him funny looks. Then, he noticed a blank white card on the ground, and picked it up. He turned it over, where it said, 'I.O.U.' spelled out with black spell marks. "NOOOOOOOO!"

Sheena and Lloyd were bolting across the Tethe Alla plains laughing their heads off. They couldn't believe that it actually worked! That plan was meant for in case anybody caught them together, but it still worked. Lloyd ran with a long red bag with a strap that looped from end to end for holding purposes over his shoulder. It held the Material Blades as well as a change of clothes, his swim trunks, and his snorkel. Sheena held a gray sack that was flat on the bottom and tying strings at the opening. It carried several decks of magic cards, her successor outfit, and her somewhat revealing swimsuit.

"Thank Martel that it worked!" Sheena said with laughter.

"And I thought it up last week, too!" Lloyd said triumphantly.

"And if it didn't work, then we'd probably be stuck doing dishes in the inn's kitchen right now!"

"Would they do something like that?"

"I sure hope not," Sheena adjusted the bag that she held over her shoulder. She glanced over at Lloyd as she ran. He was gazing at her with his normal idiotic smile. She smiled back, and they stopped running. Still walking towards the bridge, they looked at each other lovingly, and held hands.

"We wouldn't want to keep everyone waiting, now would we?" Lloyd said, smiling.

"I think that they can wait a little bit longer," Sheena said with a sly grin. She leaned her head towards him, gazing into his eyes. Lloyd gazed right back at her, and put an arm around her waist. Their lips were about to meet in a loving embrace, and--

"Lloyd! Sheena!" Shouted a loud, childlike voice.

"GWAH!" the couple stumbled onto the grass in opposite directions. They looked up to see Genis and Presea at the top arch of the last hill between them and the Grand Bridge.

"Genis!" Lloyd exclaimed, getting to his feet.

"Ow…" Sheena moaned in pain from the fall on her butt as well as disappointment. _What are we? Cursed!_ She thought.

"Raine and Kratos were wondering where you guys went, so they told me to go and find you." Genis said when he got to the bottom of the hill and in front of Sheena and Lloyd.

Presea walked up next to Genis saying, "I assisted him, since there was a twenty three percent increase in a successful search if I helped him."

"I see…" Lloyd said understandingly as he helped Sheena get up.

"So what held you two up?" Genis asked curiously, still oblivious to their relationship. The couple looked at each other.

"A Hare attacked us," They said in unison.

Genis looked at them strangely for a few minutes. Literally, a few minutes of total silence. He shook his head, "Anyway, we need to get to the EC now. Everyone's waiting for us."

"Uh, yeah," Sheena said awkwardly. _He fell for it! Some genius he is!_

When they got to the Great Tethe Alla Bridge, Sheena and Lloyd marveled at the sight of the 'decked-out' EC. In fact, it was no longer an EC, it was a yacht! It was painted white, and had a blue line going around the hull around where the water was. Two strings with multicolor flags went from the bow to the tip of a steel pole on the top of the boat. Written on the hull of the boat was "The Symphonia" with two planets swirling together in a kind of blue and green Yin/Yang sign pained behind the letters.

Zelos walked to the railing on the bow of the boat and looked down at his friends. He was wearing a captain's hat on his head, and had a fake eye patch over his left eye. "Ahoy, my hunnies! You like what you see?"

"Zelos!" Raine yelled up to him, "_You_ did this?"

"Yep. Yep. This is all the work of the hard-working, artistic, yet sexy Zelos Wilder; the captain of The Symphonia!" He hopped down to the dock and landed in front of her. "And you're my first mate!" He grabbed her wrist and yanked her to the ramp to the deck, smiling happily.

"W-wait a second!" Raine shouted, staring at the water with terror.

"Don't worry, my gorgeous beauty, I'll protect you from the watery depths with my life!"

"Somehow your gallantry is less than comforting…" She was practically dragged by Zelos up the ramp.

"Regal?" Lloyd said.

"What is it?"

"Why's Zelos the captain? I mean, I'm the one with the pirate costume!" He brandished the folded up costume from his bag.

"He took the eye patch and painted the ship, so I think that you two have about equal power over who's captain." Regal chuckled, playing along with Lloyd's little game.

"He took my eye patch! Oh, he's dead now!" Just before he was about to go and kick Zelos's ass for taking his eyepatch, he felt a tap on his shoulder. It wasn't Regal. Lloyd turned around and saw several other people behind him, and their faces were all-too-familiar.

"Lloyd! you're here, too?" A brown-haired girl in a brown and yellow dress exclaimed.

"Chocolat! What're you doing here?" Lloyd yelled with joy and confusion at the same time.

A man walked up from behind Chocolat and said, "Mr. Bryant sent us messengers saying that there's a celebration. They brought us here with carriages and everything!"

"Pietro!" Sheena said with surprise.

A woman was holding his hand. "Um... I'm glad that all of you even considered inviting me here..."

"Even Kate's here!" Genis shouted with joy. "Regal, did you--"

"Yes, I invited them to come and surprise you." Regal interupted, "And also to help us to enjoy our vacation a few important friends."

* * *

A/N: Ain't life grand? anyway, I hope that you liked this installment in The Silence After the Storm. Finals are over, so I actually have a three-day weekend on my hands with absolutely no homework! freaking huzzah! I really enjoyed writing this, and I hope that you enjoyed reading this. Until next time. 

**King Kamor**


	3. Party Boat

**A/N:** I'll answer some reviews first:

RoyalFanatic: I really like the Zelos/Raine pairing, too. That's why I did it. I mean, think of the destruction! XD As you can see, this fanfic is most defenitely not over. I plan to make it really long.

Angel selphie666: Thanks for liking this so much! And for the hug!XD You'll see a "moment" between Zelos and Raine in this one, as well as more hilarity in Zelos' antics.

Krazy Kor: Yeah, you're right, they can't get a break, and I'm the one making the other characters interrupt! XD And Sheena hints to why they're keeping it a secret near the end of this chapter.

Anywho, for those of you that thought that it was over, well, it's not, kay? I plan to make this 10+ chapters, so don't worry. And since I forgot the disclaimer the last two times, here it is:

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Tales of Symphonia or any characters in it... I do, however, own a metric HL(helluva lot) of anime and manga. Now, on with it! XD

**Chapter 3: Party Boat**

"Avast, ye sea dogs!" Zelos shouted in a pirate-like voice, standing at the wheel of the EC in the little command center booth. He still had the captain's hat, but Lloyd took back the eyepatch earlier and left Zelos's hair slightly ruffled. Raine stood behind him wearing a white and blue sailor cap. She was not amused the slightest bit; she was wearing an embarrassing hat, near Zelos, on a boat that he's piloting, out in the vast open water of the sea... She was scared spitless. Night had already fallen, and Zelos went out of the room to light several torches that ran along the edge of the EC-- er, yacht. Everybody else was dressed in formal clothes and having food and drinks (provided by Regal, of course) on the deck. Music was playing from a band dressed in all black. One played something called a bass guitar, another was hitting what looked like a bunch of pans and metal plates set up on stands. Another played a more familiar instrument, the piano, but it was flat and set up on a stand. In front of them was a female singer. The music was loud and fast, but it sounded great!

"Genis! You look so cute in your formal outfit!" Chocolat said to Genis with a wide smile. She was wearing a thin white dress that went down to her ankles, and had a short slit on the side. It didn't have any sleeves, and went up to a choker on her neck. She wore a silver braclet on both wrists, and she had her hair up in a bun. Genis was wearing his easter Sunday outfit, pouting at her comments.

He blushed and said, "I-it's just a new outfit, is all!" He turned away with his arms crossed, and walked towards Presea, who was wearing her little lady dress.

"Oh, come on! you're no fun!" Chocolat said disappointedly, putting her hands on her hips.

Colette walked over to her, "Hi, Chocolat!" She was wearing a pink, frilly one-piece dress and red shoes.

"Oh, hello, Chosen!" Chocolat responded happily.

"I'm not a Chosen anymore, so you can call me Colette, okay?"

"Oh, of course!" Chocolat scratched the back of her head. "By the way, do you think that the Desians are going to ever come back? I pray to Martel that they don't..."

"I'm sure they won't. Besides, they probably have families to go to. I mean, everyone has a family, right?" She smiled happily at the thought.

"Uh... I really envy the way you always look on the brighter side of things." Colette looked at her, confused. "I don't think that I can ever think the way you do."

"But that's what makes you you, right? Lloyd told me that a long time ago."

"Heh... I guess you're right. Lloyd really isn't a bad person, is he?"

"Of course not! He had good intensions from the very beginning."

On the other side of the deck:

"Lloyd!" Sheena yelled as she walked over to him. She was wearing her purple dress with the two straps that went over her breasts, and had let her hair down instead of in a bun. She wouldn't want to copy Chocolat, now, would she?

"Sheena! You're finally dressed!" Lloyd said happily. The outfit he wore was his Nobleman outfit. The only differences were that it was all white, including the scarf thing that trailed behind him, and the top was like atrench coat.

"Hey! It takes women longer to get ready than men! And if I recall, the first time you wore your Nobleman style clothes, you needed help to get dressed!" She looked at him slyly.

Lloyd blushed, "Th-that was--" Sheena laughed and leaned on the railing, looking out at the bluish horizon.

"I can't beleive that it's finally over..." She said as her eyes narrowed.

"Neither can I. Having a celebration like this, you'd think that all of those people never died at the hands of Cruxis and the Desians." Lloyd leaned back on the railing next to her. "After four thousand years of Chosen after Chosen dieing, half-elves turning into angels, and the worlds being separated, we stopped it all within a year... After all of that, the Eternal Sword, the pact with Origin, and even angelic abilities were all given to me. All thanks to my mother's momento and my friends..." He looked at the exsphere on the back of his hand, and then at the Ring of the Pact that was on his ring finger.

Sheena looked at him curiously, "What? Are you having second thoughts about destroying your own exsphere on our journey?"

"...Kind of..." Lloyd said slowly. Sheena was surprised; she couldn't think of any time that Lloyd had second thoughts about anything he wanted to do. He let out a sigh and looked up at the stars. "But I know that it must be done, so I have to accept that in the end..."

Right next to them, Kate and Pietro were talking to eachother. Pietro wore a spiffy white tux, and Kate wore a beautiful dress that was the same color of her hair with gloves that went almost up to her shoulders. They met eachother in Luin, where Kate was planning to live the rest of her life away from the lab in Sybak. That's where she met Pietro. She'd never really thought about having a relationship with anyone, let alone a human. But she felt something special about him. Pietro was opposed to half-elf descrimination, so they eventually built up a relationship in Luin. Suddenly, the music changed to a slow song.

insert "Ending Staff Roll" From ToS Soundtrack disk 4>>

Pietro turned toKate, and said politely, "May I have this dance?"

Kate, rather taken aback, blushed a rosy red, and turned away with her hands on her cheeks. "Pietro! There aren't enough people! Everyone we know will be watching us!" She said with embarrassment.

"Come on! Why not? I happen to know this song, and it would be a pity not to dance to it with you." He held out his hand to her.

Kate looked over her shoulder at his hand. She turned fully towards him, smiled, and said, "Okay, maybe just for a little while." After fixing her glasses, she took his hand all lady-like, and they stepped onto the center area of the deck. Rietro put his hands on Kate's hips, and she put her arms around his neck. They swayed back and forth, stepping to the slow rhythm of the song. Everyone seemed to stop talking, and watched them dance with eachother. Kate glanced to either side, and then down at Pietro's chest, blushing. But she was also smiling at the same time. She couldn't be happier.

Sheena was watching them, smiling. I wonder if Lloyd and I can dance like that sme time? She looked down sadly, But are we really ready to tell everyone? I'm a little anxious about it, but I'm not so sure about Lloyd. Lloyd was leaning against the railing just like he was before, watching Pietro and Kate dancing. He caught her looking at him out of the corner of his eye, and smiled widely back at her.

* * *

Up in the command center: 

On the door to the command center was a makeshift sign that said, "Do NOT enter! Hunny swooning in progress!" taped on it. The room itself was rather small, and had few controls besides stearing and acceleration. It had a small kitchen in the back, as well. The only four things in the room were the stearing wheel, a table, and two chairs. One of the chairs was a leather cushioned armchair for the captain.

"Look at those two," Zelos said, strearing the ship with his foot as he sat in his captain's chair, looking out the window at everybody. "That Pietro's a regular stud!" His captain's hat was tilted to the side slightly.

"No, he's a good man that helped the most in rebuilding Luin!" Raine retorted. She was standing behind him next to a table. The first mate cap was resting on the tabletop.

"Whatever you say, my gorgeous first mate, but I was seriously considering seeing Kate after the trip." He crossed his leg over the other, and leaned back in his chair.

"You hardly know the first thing about her! Pietro is a good man, and he deserves Kate."

"Then who do_ I_ deserve?" Zelos leaned towards her a little, wearing a sly smile.

Raine blushed, "I-I don't know! Don't ask me!" She threw the first mate cap at him, which he caught in his hand.

"No need to be angry, my cool beauty, I was only asking a question." He stood up and walked over to her. "I was just thinking that I could find someone with whom I could simply settle down with and end the legacy of 'The Playboy Chosen'. Who knows? I might even find her on this ship." He looked into Raine's eyes, and she blushed, her cheeks turning into the color of tomatoes. "Now be more first mate-like and get me a drink!" He placed the cap on Raine's head, and walked back to his chair, laughing.

The cap slipped down over Raine's eyes a little. She placed it properly on the top of her head, and smiled. "Yes, captain!" She put her hand up in a salute, and ran into the kitchen.

"That's the spirit!"

* * *

Back on the deck: 

Lloyd and Sheena traveled to the stern of the ship where they were alone. Lloyd sat against the back wall that separated them from the engine room. It was cold outside, and the wall kept him warm due to the engine. It whirred and hummed with the moving parts inside it creating heat and turning power for the propellers. Sheena was still standing up, and was looking at the stars. The wind was beginning to pick up, and she shivered.

"Sheena, why not come and sit down next to me?" Lloyd asked.

"No, I'm find," She masked her shivering very well. It would've working if Lloyd din't notice the goosebumps on her arms.

"Quit acting tough. It's not working. And it's hard to take that seriously when you're wearing that." He smiled truimphantly. Sheena shrugged, as if admitting defeat, and sat down next to him. She was still shivering, though. Lloyd noticed this, and unbuttoned the coat-like upper body part of his Nobleman outfit.

"Wh-what are you doing!" Sheena yelled, unaware of his true intensions. He got it off, showing a white undershirt underneath.

"What're you getting so flushed for?" He draped it over her shoulders, and leaned back against the wall.

She blanked out for a moment, and then shook her head, "H-hey! Wait a sec! You'll get cold now!"

"Nah. I'm fine; the engine is keeping me warm." He smiled, not showing any sign of being cold.

"Grr. Idiot." She took the side of the coat closest to him, and wrapped it around his opposite shoulder. They were both being warmed by the coat and eachother. Sheena nuzzled up next to him, and leaned on his shoulder with her eyes closed. Lloyd blushed slightly, and put an arm around her shoulders, pulling her in close. Surprised and delighted at his quick response, Sheena placed a small kiss on his cheek.

Lloyd smiled and ran his fingers through her wavy hair. "I think that we should tell everyone in the morning."

Sheena smiled back lovingly. "We won't hear the end of it from Zelos, but it's now or never, right?" Lloyd held her close, and they chuckled a little. Suddenly, Lloyd noticed something. He coulnd't put his finger on it, but something in the background of the scene was missing...

"Oh, man..."

* * *

**A/N:** HA! Cliffhanger, biatch!XD Read and review if you want. I'll put up the next chapter... when I'm done with it, kay? I stayed up till midnight last night typing this! Why? Because I can run at normal capacity with four hours of sleep a day! Sleep is highly overrated! Huzzah for not sleeping! Why am I yelling so much?XD I hope that you all enjoyed this chapter, since i worked my weak little fingers to the bone to type it.(okay, not really XP) The next chapter will show you what this cliffhanger is all about, so wait for it! Until next time. 

**King Kamor**


	4. Potions in the Engine Room

**A/N:** I'll start out again by answering some reviews.

RoyalFanatic: I don't really know what you're getting at, but thanks for enjoying the chapter.

Rioes: Your lack of review for teh second chapter is forgiven. Is it good or bad that it's so fluffy? There'll be fighting in future chapters, just so you know, so look forward to it.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own ToS or any of it's characters, only this fanfic, which I am growing quite fond of writing.

Just as a little side note, all of the exphere-powered machines in the world have been destroyed or have had their expheres removed. Everything now runs on gas or Volt's electricity. Oh, and the type of fuel the boat uses is... um... gas... Yeah, that's it... Don't look at me that way.

And some of you may have noticed the lack of Regal, Presea, and Kratos in the last chapter, so i added a short scene with them. It's just really hard to grasp their seriouness as characters, y'know? Luckily, there is next to no seriousness in this chapter, so I'm safe for another few days. XP

It seems that the more chapters I post, the more people come and read it. It always makes me smile when people enjoy my work, so tell me what I can do to get better. Now, on with it! XD

* * *

Chapter 4: Potions in the Engine Room

Lloyd and Sheena dashed up the stairs to the command center where Zelos and Raine were, Lloyd still tugging his arm through the sleeve of his white trenchcoat. When they reached the door, slightly fazed by the sign, Lloyd burst through it and shouted, "Zelos! We have a problem!" Zelos was sitting in his captain's chair, drinking a Flanoir Snow Tear, a blue colored alcoholic drink that was made by fermenting frozen plant roots in Flanoir. He was talking to Raine, also drinking some Snow Tear, who was sitting a few feet away from him in her own chair. They had pulled the table closer to him so they could put their drinks on it.

"Whassa matter, Bud?" Zelos said, obviously at least a little drunk.

"Lloyd, must you shout so loudly?" Raine said, taking another sip of the blue concoction from her short glass. Her face was flushed slightly, but not as much as Zelos.

"The engine's stopped!" Lloyd yelled in a serious tone. There was a silence. Zelos quietly set his drink down on the table, and stood up with an angered look on his flushed face.

"Whaddaya mean the engine stopped?"

"We were standing outside the engine room, and the humming of teh engine suddenly stopped!" Sheena claimed.

Raine stood up, as well, "I guess we'll have to go into the engine room and fix it, right?" She stepped outside and started down the stairs, still holding her drink. Zelos grabbed the whole bottle for some reason, and ran after her, swaying slightly. Lloyd and Sheena followed them. Once outside the engine room door, Raine said, "It would be in everyone's best interest if everybody else was oblivious to what's happened. Agreed?"

"I'm down," Zelos said. Lloyd and Sheena nodded their heads in agreement. Zelos searched through his pocket, and pulled something out. It must've been the key. He put it into the key slot and turned... nothing happened. Lloyd took a closer look, and saw that it was a breathmint!

"What the hell, Zelos!" Lloyd shouted.

Zelos looked down at the breathmint with surprise. "Wait a second, that can't be right..." Zelos said groggily.

"Just get the key, you damned idiot!" Sheena yelled.

"Calm down, my voluptuous hunny, everything's under control!" He pulled the key out of his pocket, and after about the third try put it in the keyhole. The door led directly to a staircase that led deeper into the ship. It was dark, and nobody could see very well. Raine searched around the walls of the staircase for a switch, and finally found one, turnign on a redish light in the room below the staircase. Everyone stepped in, and Zelos closed the door behind them.

"Okay, it looks like it's just out of fuel," Raine said once they reached the engine, which took up the enire wall opposite the staircase. She looked around for some fuel until her eyes came across three small tanks. "Here we are," She said as she walked over to them. "Lloyd, can you pour this into the valve over there?"

"Why me?" Lloyd asked, surprised that she didn't ask Zelos to do it.

"Because Sheena and I can't lift those by ourselves."

"And I won't be caught dead getting my beautiful skin messy with oil!" Zelos said, putting hand on Lloyd's shoulder to keep himself from falling down. Lloyd grumbled, and grabbed one of the tanks. After he poured all three of them into the engine's main tank, his white clothes were all dirtied up with oil.

"Thank you, Lloyd. Zelos, pull that lever over there, will you? And Sheena, press that small red button on the engine after that." Raine commanded, pointed Zelos towards the vertical lever on the wall. He staggered over to it, and pulled it downwards. Sheena pressed the button, and it started to flash red. A loud starting-up groan sound came from the engine, but it started to pur like a kitten in no time. Raine crossed her arms, triumphant about her accomplishment. "Good work, everyone. Now let's get back to the party, shall we?" She started up the stairs to the door. Everyone followed her.

"Man, now I'll have to wear something else," Lloyd said, looking at the oil stains on his trench coat.

"It's fine, you can just wear your normal clothes and get back to the party after you change," Sheena said.

"Honestly, Lloyd when the young man who saved the world starts complaining about--" Raine stopped mid-sentence just as she grabbed the doorknob.

"What's wrong, Professor?" Lloyd asked.

"...It won't open..."

* * *

**Up on deck:**

Regal was leaning back in a chair next to the deserts table. He was looking at his left hand with a serious look in his eyes. After about another minute, he put it down and looked at his right hand the same way. The skin on his wrists were wrinkled beyond repair by the shackles, and were a slightly darker shade of tan. Presea noticed the look in his eyes, and walked over to him.

"Regal? Is... everything alright?" She asked, her emotions finally starting to show for once.

Regal glanced down at her, and closed his eyes as he rested his hands on his lap. "It's nothing, Presea." He said with a small smile. "It's just that..." He looked at his left hand, keeping the right one out of sight, "I haven't seen my hands apart for so long... They almost seem lonely without eachother..."

"Our hands cannot feel emotions, they are merely extentions of our bodies, used for--"

"I know, Presea," Regal interrupted, smiling her obvious statement. "But I've put my emotions of atonement into these hands so thoroughly that I gave them scars that will never heal. Before I killed Alicia, I treasured them so dearly, and look what I did to them for so many years... They hurt so badly the first year I wore the shackles." He dropped his hand and smiled again, "Just forget that I said anything."

Presea looked at him with a cocked head, her pigtails swaying slightly with the movement. "Perhaps your hands aren't hurting now because they are thanking you for keeping your promise," She said, a sweet smile spreading across her face.

Regal looked at her with surprise, and stuttered, "P-Presea, you..." She smiled at him, putting her hands together behind her back. Regal was bewildered at her statement. He then said slyly, "But you said that hands cannot have emotions, didn't you?"

"I say many things," Presea said, and pranced back towards Genis and Chocolat.

"Psh... hypocrite..." He chuckled, and leaned back on his chair once again, gazing at the stars.

"Regal..." A deep and serious voice sounded behind him. He turned around and saw Kratos, wearing a black and white version of his purple outfit... and a conspicuous red bowtie.

"Oh, Kratos," Regal said, standing up from his chair, "What took you so long to get dressed?"

"I had trouble with the door. It was locked from the outide, so I had to wait for someone, Pietro, to open it for me. All of the doors on this ship seem to be built very well. What are they made of?"

"Ask Zelos, he's the one who chose the materials for this ship. But I'll tell you one thing, not even I, with my hands, could break down one of these walls or doors. There is no way that the hull could ever be breached, we're all perfectly safe in this unsinkable ship."

"And if we're locked in a room?"

"Then Martel help you!" They laughed wholeheartedly at his joke.

* * *

**In the engine room:**

"What do you mean it won't open?" Lloyd and Sheena shouted in unison.

"It's as I said, it won't open!" Raine yelled, kicking the door with her white boots.

"Zelos! you left the key in the lock on the outside!" Sheena shouted angrily at the Chosen of Tethe Alla. She pushed him into the railing of the stairs. Raine kept trying to kick the door down with all her might, which, to be honest, was a lot of power. Lloyd knew this, and shuddered slightly at the memory of being kicked by Raine.

"That won't work, mah gorgeous first mate," Zelos said, catching himself on the railing. "This thing's built solid as a rock... joo guys can't open it without the key, aright?"

They traveled back dow the stairs to the basement-like engine room. Lloyd sat down against one of the walls, and let out a sigh. Sheena sat next to him, making sure that her skirt was in the proper position before seated. Raine, realizing the heat coming from the engine, took off her orange jacket, showing her white long sleeve scolar shirt. This also revealed her fingure more, which Zelos took immediate notice to. He walked over to a door underneath the staircase, and opened it. _Is he getting something to help get us out?_ Lloyd thought. Zelos went in and came out with two more wine bottles.

"What the? Why's there alcohol in there, Zelos?" Sheena asked, confused.

"Yeah, it's creepy that you keep drinks in the engine room." Lloyd said, taking off his trenchcoat.

"It's awright, I just ran out of room in the kitchen," Zelos said, brandishing three glasses from a shelf in the small room.

"That's even creepier!" Lloyd yelled.

"Aw, lighten up, and have a drink, Bud!" Zelos tossed him a glass. "You, too you crazy banshee woman!" He tossed another to Sheena.

"No, we're underaged!" Sheena pointed out.

"It's true, Zelos, their bodies haven't aged enough to hold much alcohol. I'm against letting them drink," Raine said, fanning herself.

"C'mon! You guys saved the world! Who's gonna complain if you have a drink or three, huh?" Zelos poured some Flanoir Snow Tear into Lloyd's glass and some Palma Potion into Sheena's glasses.

"Well, okay, maybe just a sip," Sheena said, looking at the blue liquid curiously.

**15 minutes later:**

(insert "Fun with Idol!" from ToS Soundtrack disk 4)

"Gimme another, Zelos!" Lloyd yelled, his cheeks flushed, his empty glass thrust towards Zelos, who was drinking out of the bottle. 

"That's what I wanna hear, bud! Time to start the _real_ party!" Zelos shouted, pouring what was left into the glass, though he was swinging it around so much that it was barely a quarter full. Sheena and raine were sitting next to eachother, watching Zelos and Lloyd dancing around, drunk as hell. Lloyd had taken off his shirt due to the heat, and Zelos had taken off hid pink vest. Both of the girls' faces were flushed red, and Raine had to take off her white shirt, showing a gray tank top underneath, bra straps showing. She had also taken off her boots. Raine was surprisingly controled when she was drunk. She hardly let out so much as a mispronounced word as she talked to Sheena.

"So, Raine," Sheena said, putting an arm around Raine's neck, a sly smile spreading across her mouth, "I heard from m'self that you like someone!" She held her drink in the air as if in celebration.

Raine closed her eyes after another sip and said, "you're drunk, Sheena, you should stop."

"Naw, I'm jus' fine!" Sheena hiccuped, "Anywho, joo were sayin' you like someone?"

"No, you said that I like someone. Stop putting words in my mouth!"

"Aw! C'mon! If I tell you who I leik, joo'll tell me who joo like?" Sheen a hiccuped again.

Raine glanced at Sheena, and took another sip of some Palma Potion, "I guess that's okay."

"I'm in love whit Lloyd."

"Wh-what!" Raine yelled in surprise, spitting out some of her drink. She realised how loud she was, and leaned in close to Sheena, whispering, "You love him?"

Sheena snickered, a half hapy half drunk smile on her face, "Yup, he's mah man." She suddenly turned to almost serious, and set her drink down. "When I first joined you guys in that whole adventure, or whatever you wanna call it, I just felt something... I dunno, eternally good about him. He makes me feel like the world could actually accept me and my summoning abilities. He makes me feel at home, somehow..."

Raine gazed at Sheena and then glanced at Lloyd, who was still dancing around with Zelos; she wasn't too surprised. She let out a sigh and looked up at the ceiling, "I guess that I'll have to tell you who I like, right?" She paused, looking at Sheena. "To tell you the honest-to-Martel truth... I think that it may be Zelos..." "Heh... heheh... hahahaha! Ahahahahaha!" Raine's laughter grew louder and louder, and she put her left hand on her head, her eyes sealed shut with joy. Sheena looked at the once-calm adult before her, confusion filling her mind. The half elven teacher eventually stopped, but a wide smile still remained. "What does a scolar like me see in a man like him?" She asked nobody in particular. "I'm not sure, myself. Maybe I'll find out on this little vacation of ours..."

Suddenly, a ray of sunlight was shone through where the door was. Raine and Sheena covered their eyes, and could only make out the figure a a very well-built man. Lloyd and Zelos stopped running around aimlessly, and looked up at the silhouette at the doorway. "Regal?" Raine shouted to him, standing up. Her body wobbled as she stood up. Regal walked down the stairs towards them.

"What are all of you doing in here?" Regal asked, confused like nothing else.

"Well, y'see," Lloyd said, putting an arm around Sheena's shoulders for balance, "Zelos the idiot here," He pointed at the space right next to Zelos, "locked us in here. Sooooo we've been drinkin' this stuff like there's no tomarrow!"

"It is tomarrow!" Regal shouted, "You guys have been missing since midnight last night!"

"Aw, crap, so there _is _ tomarrow? I dun think we tried hard enough, Zelos! Now that all three of ya are here, we can really..." He fell flat on his face.

Regal looked down at him, and then at the other three drunks, "The rest of us thought that you four had gone to bed already, so we didn't worry."

Sheena rubbed her left eye and said, "What time is it?"

"I believe that it's at least seven in the morning. Now come on, you need to rest all of this off." Regal walked up the stairs to the now-_open_ door. Sheena picked up Lloyd, put one of his arms around her shoulders, and lugged him up the stairs. Raine was about to follow when she noticed that Zelos wasn't coming. She walked over to him quickly.

"Zelos? Aren't you coming?" She said, taking Zelos's hand. Then, upon closer inspection, she found that Zelos was asleep standing up! After giving him a few light smacks across the face, he came to. She sighed, "How _do_ you manage to sleep standing?"

"Good question!" Zelos said carefree of the fact that it's morning already, "Now, off into the unknown, my gorgeous first mate!"

* * *

A/N: Damn, was it fun to write them drunk! XD I wish that I could have that much fun every time I write! Maybe I should write Presea drunk... that'd be interesting! plots Anyway, I hope that you guys liked this chapter. It seems that my chapters are getting longer each time... sweet! The next chapter will have them arriving in Altamira. Don't look forward to it too soon, though, since my three-day weekend is officially over. --; Until next time! 

**King Kamor**


	5. The First Day: Part One

**A/N:** Thank you all for liking the drunk scene. I'm quite fond of it, myself. It seems that a metric HL of you liked it, so I guess I'll be "forced" to make more in the future. kekeke. Oh, and sorry for the delay. I seem to be developing a life outside the internet (gasp!) And by life, I of course mean school, chores, my girlfriend, and Soul Calibur 3 (lol). Also, y'know when I said, "soon," I meant "A few weeks," so... ehe heh.

I'll answer to some reviews now:

Rioes: Thanks for the compliments! I like the fact that my fic makes you smile, because it makes me smile when my readers smile, so keep reading, and I'll keep writing!

Cherrybelle: Yup, that scene was my favorite. Thanks for liking this!

geoff: You're right, that stuff_ is_ strong! _hiccup_

Krazy Kor: Thanks for the great review, man. I can't wait until your next review. Not to mention the next chapters in your own works. I just have one question: how the hell did your ass write the note? (shudders) I, however, have a trained ass in which I can sit down for six straight hour_s_ without complaint! (is proudish)

Raine: You wrote me drunk. Don't think that I'll forget this.

Sheena, Lloyd, and Zelos: Us too!

Me: Um... sorry?

Sheena: And why the hell did you pair Raine with Zelos? I mean, how opposite can their personalities be!

Me: Oh, come on, it's humorous!

Presea: There is a 92.518954 percent chance that it isn't funny.

Me: (cries in a corner)

Zelos: I liked it! XD

Raine: (pwns Zelos with her staff of almighty doom)

Zelos: (in a world of pain)(twitch)

Me: (sweatdrop)Anywho, I hope that people are starting to like my fic.

Celsius: (poofs out of summon spirit world and smacks King Kamor into the wall) They'll like it more if you start the scenes with me in it! Hell, I was even voted the most popular summon spirit in the ToS guild on gaia online!

Me: (in a world of pain)(twitch)

Raine: You hit him too hard...

Celsius: Uh... Whoops... Now that that's done with, the Disclaimer. King Kamor doesn't own Tales of Symphonia. He thought that he did once, but we had to call in the white coats and make him sleep for a day and half...

**Chapter 5: The First Day: Part one  
**

"Woohoo! My hunnies, welcome to the most beautiful resort in the world, united or no, Altamira!" Zelos shouted through the megaphone from the command center. It was in the middle of the afternoon, and the Symphonia had finally gotten in sight of Altamira. Raine stood next to him, her head throbbing from her monster of a headache. Lloyd and Sheena were slumped against the wall of the command center, asleep. It had only been a few hours since they were found in the engine room, and they lost all track of time while in there. Sheena was leaning against Lloyd's shoulder, and his head rested on top of hers. Zelos tried several times to wake them up, but to no avail. So he searched for a marker and would've drawn on their faces if Raine hadn't slapped him.

"We'll be docking soon, so everybody get dressed for the occasion," Zelos's voice blared, "As in, skimpy swimsuits for all of my hunnies here right n-OW! Hey! That hurt!"

"Turn that thing off, you're like a spoiled rich child with a new toy!" Raine's voice scolded over the megaphone.

"But I _was_ a spoiled rich kid! Ow! Ah! Not the face!" The megaphone fizzled out, but no one needed it to hear Raine yelling at Zelos. She must have had one hell of a hangover. Everyone on deck smiled halfheartedly, and went back to their rooms to get 'dressed for the occasion'. Colette had to share a room with Chocolat, and Pietro and Kate had to share a room together. None of them complained, especially not Pietro and Kate. Regal stayed on deck, wearing his brown business suit with is hair tied back in a pony tail. He gazed out at the docks of Altamira out in the distance, the cheers of the crowds already able to be heard.

In Colette and Chocolat's room, Colette was putting on her normal Chosen outfit, but without the outer jacket that covered her shoulders. The jacket had covered up most of her surprizingly nice figure, which only looked plain compaired to Raine, Sheena, and not to mention, Chocolat. Chocolat was sifting through a wardrobe full of dresses. It was that way when she got there, so she felt the urge to look at each and every dress she could dig up.

"This one? No..." She said as she threw another one aside. Despite her dislike towards the dress, she wore a wide smile. The fact that she was about to be seen and recognized by such a large crowd in Altamira, she it was all she could do the hold in her excitement. She tossed yet another one in the the pile of twenty-plus dresses on her bed. Then, as she put a blue, frilly dress up to her body to check it's size, she noticed a door on the wall to the left of the wardrobe. She walked over to it and opened it out of curiosity. "Oh... em... gee." Beforre her was a walk-in closet that was about half the size of her mother's item shop. Her leg seemed to grow weak, and she grabbed the doorknob to keep her balance.

In Pietro and Kate's room, Kate was getting dressed in the bathroom, and Pietro was looking at himself in the mirror in the dresser. He was earing the same snazzy suit that he had worn the night before. As he gazed into the mirror, he could hear Kate humming a lively tune in the bathroom. He smiled and pondered on how he had met this woman.

* * *

"I-I'm so sorry, sir..." A woman with greenish blue hair said to a shopkeeper in Luin. Broken bottles of potions and splattered gels were scattered about the shelf she had just bumped into. One of the shelves had given out when she touched it, and everything came crashing down in front of her. 

"You think that apologizing will pay me back for all of these potions and gels, you despicable half-elf!" The shopkeeper hit her across the face with the back of his hand, toppling her to the floor. Her spectacles flew off and landed at his feet, and he stepped on them, a loud cracking sound resonating throughout the shop. People in the shop had formed a small circle around them, keeping their distance from the shopkeeper. They had worried looks about their faces, thinking what he would do to her. "I'll bet that you did this on purpose! That's just like your kind to do something like this!"

"N-no, I simply lost my footing on a loose floorboard, and--"

"Don't lie to me!" The shopkeeper raised his hand to strike her again, but he felt someone desperately grasp his wrist, keeping him from hitting her. He looked back and saw Pietro holding on with all his might.

"Kres! What do you think you're doing to this poor woman?" Pietro shouted angrily.

Kres lowered his fist, "I'm punishing her for destroying this shelf!"

Pietro let go of Kres' wrist, "I'm sure that it was an accident," he walked over and held out a hand to her, "What's your name?"

"Kate," She said almost automatically, and grabbed his hand. Who was this man who had come to her rescue?

"P-Pietro! She's a half-elf! Even if it was an accident, she could very well be a Desian survivor!"

"Quiet, Kres! You know that Lloyd's group dissolved that organization completely! They destroyed all of their human ranches, and killed all of their leaders. What more would you want?" Pietro walked over to Kres, and bent over to pick up Kate's shattered spectacles. "Here, Kate. I can find someone in Luin to get these fixed." Kate was speachless.

Kres shuddered, and looked at Pietro with hateful eyes. "Pietro..." As Pietro turned around to face Kres, a hard fist slammed into his face. He crashed into the wall and slumped to the floor. Kate rushed to his aid. Several people in the shop restrained Kres from going any further in his fit of rage. "Now you're siding with those halflings? Think about what half-elves are! They're only half human, which is enough to take away any human emotion from them! You're a traitor!"

Later, Kate was helping Pietro walk back to his house that was just outside of Luin. He had twisted his ankle when Kres hit him, and had his arm around Kate's shoulder. They proceeded along quietly, without uttering so much as a word to eachother. Every time either of them would try to start up a conversation, nothing would come out of their mouths. They just kept walking. Once they got to Pietro's small, yet quaint, house, Kate was about to leave back to the main area of Luin.

"Hey, you can come inside if you want," Pietro said with a smile, opening his front door.

Kate whirled around in surprise, "N-no, I can't possably--"

"Please? It can get lonely when you live by yourself," Pietro said, sustaining the smile throughout his sad comment. _Who is this man?_ Kate thought to herself. The next thing she knew, she was inside Pietro's home. It was only two rooms; a main room that doubled as the bedroom and the kitchen; and the bathroom. The bed had gray sheets and a shabby pillow, and the kitchen had nothing more than a small shelf with food and a fireplace for heating up soup. Right in the center of the room was a table with three chairs. Overall... it was better than the lab.

"You live here?" Kate said, standing on the small entryway rug.

"It isn't much, but I won't be staying here for much longer, anyway," Pietro said, limping over to a chair. He sat down, and motioned Kate to do the same. They ended up talking for hours, drinking some wine Pietro had gotten from the mayor. It was called Sake, a drink that he got from Mizuho as a gift, and gave to Pietro for his efforts in rebuilding Luin. They drank out of tiny cups, which looked like miniature bowls. The amount that they drank wasn't enough to get them drunk, though. As it turned out, Pietro didn't even seem to care that Kate was a half-elf. This made her so happy that all she could do was continue smiling and talking to this man.

"So you really know Lloyd's group personally?" Kate asked happily, completely forgetting the fact that se was talking to a human.

"Yes, that's right," Pietro said just after having another sip of Sake, "They're the ones that donated almost one million gald to the Luin reconstruction and expansion funds!"

"They did? I can't beleive that they had that much money!" Kate stood up and started walking around the room. Pietro went over to his bed and laid down.

"I guess that you could say that they were the ones that rebuilt Luin, not me," Pietro said with a somewhat sad tone.

"But you're the one who organized the reconstruction projects!" Kate protested.

"Oh, come now, it's only logical that people would idolize the heroes that saved the worlds rather than even pay attention to the likes of me!" Pietro poured another douse of Sake into his little cup. Kate trudged towards him, frustrated that she couldn't change his mind.

"Stop talking like-- ah!" Kate yelped as she tripped on the rug near the doorway... and right on top of Pietro... on the bed. She landed on him with her face on his chest, and a hand ended up on his shoulder. Pietro's arm flailed about when she landed on him, and fell across her back. Before either of them knew what the hell just happened, they were blushing furiously. Kate scrambled off of him, saying, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Once Kate had sat on the floor next to the bed, facing away from Pietro, a deafening silence ensued. Even the light creeking of the hut could be heard over the silence. When their hearts stopped beating at light speed, they sat down at the table and ate dinner without uttering a word.

Later that night, Kate slept at Pietro's house. They hardly exchanged a word with eachother after the little 'accident.' When it came time to sleep, Pietro offered for Kate to sleep in his bed, and he on the floor. Kate argued that it was his house and that he should sleep in his own bed. They argued nonagressively, without changing their tone throughout the conversation. After what seemed like hours, or maybe just a few minutes, they agreed that the both of them would sleep in Pietro's bed with two separate blankets. Since Pietro's bed was somewhat small, they were forced to sleep back-to-back. Both of them had flushed faces throughout what Kate thought as the best night of her life.

* * *

Pietro snapped out of the world of his memories when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned his head to see what dress Kate had picked, but immediatly met his lips with hers when he did so. He had no time to see what she had chosen to wear, the only things he could see were her closed eyes. She had one hand on each of his shoulders from behind, and held the kiss for a few seconds before breaking it. 

Pietro spazzed out, "W-w-w-what the--!" He stuttered, looking nervously at Kate's joyful smile.

She giggled, putting her hand near her mouth, "I've been wanting to do that since our first night together! Now that I have, that's one thing off my list of things to do with you on this trip." She practically skipped to the door to the deck. Pietro just stood there, his tie askew, and a bewildered look upon his face. _She's sure gotten more forward than before...

* * *

_

Later at the dock

The screams and cheers of what seemed like hundreds sounded at the docks, waiting for the Symphonia. Men, women, and children alike had gathered from the rosort to greet the heroes. There was even a group of Zelos fangirls who held up a huge sign that read, "We love you, Zelos!" There was a Kratos one right next to it, and a Sheena one with all of her fanboys somewhere in the back. The Symphonia came to a halt dext to the dock, a crew of several men tieing it to wooden posts. The heroes that saved the worlds stood at the railing, waving at their adoring public. Everybody but Zelos and Regal felt uneasy acting in such a fasion.

Pitro and Kate held hands lightly, and scanned about the diverse faces of the crowd. Kate looked down, _They'll all hate me for being a half-elf..._ she thought.

She felt Pietro squeeze her hand lightly, and he whispered in her ear, "Don't worry, They'll love you almost as much as I do." Kate blushed so red that she remarkably resembled the color of a tomatoe. She quickly hid her smiling face in her hands.

"Thank you! Thank you!" Zelos shouted over the cheering. He shot romantic looks at his fangirls, who fainted on sight. Kratos elbowed him in the abs, and crossed his arms.

"This isn't a field trip, you know," Kratos said seriously.

"Actually, technically it is!" Raine retorted, chuckling slightly. Kratos blushed slightly, realizing his mistake.

Zelos put an arm around Kratos' neck playfully, and continued waving to the crowd, "C'mon! Lighten up, Krat-man! This is a party and everyone's invited!"

Back up in the bridge of the ship, Lloyd and Sheena were still fast asleep. Aside from soft breathing sounds and the occasional hiccup, the room was peacefully quiet. Apparently, the material the ship was made out of was also completely soundproof. Thus, the immense sound of the crowd outside didn't bother them at all. Lloyd was leaning directly back on the wall while Sheena involuntarrily made his shoulder into a boney pillow. They dreampt pleasant dreams, and were undisturbed until Lloyd sneezed... for some reason.

Sheena snapped awake, and noticed how close she was to Lloyd. He did the same, and noticed as well. They both blushed, but didn't part from eachother. Instead, they scooted closer, and held hands. "Great party last night, huh?" Sheena said happily.

"Must've been for my head to throb this much... ow..." Lloyd rubbed his head, as if to bore the pain away. Sheena handed him a small pill, and said that, according to Zelos, it's good for hangovers. Lloyd believed in Zelos' experience with hangovers, and took one. His headacke went away almost instantly. He glanced over at the large clock on the wall to the left of the captain's seat. They had slept from seven in the morning to three thirty in the afternoon. Lloyd let go of Sheena and groggily stood up, stretching his arms and legs. Sheena did the same.

Suddenly, Sheena noticed something. "Lloyd?"

"Yeah?" He said as he stretched his arm over his head.

"Has the boat stopped?" There was a long pause.

Lloyd rushed over to the door that let outside. "Are we already at Altamira!" When he opened the door, a tsunami of sound hit him in the face. People's cheers echoed throughout the room, and exploding their eardrums. Good thing they took Zelos' pills, or they'd be doubled over in pain from the sound. They looked out the door at the huge crowd at the dock, and then at eachother. "Shall we?" Lloyd asked smoothly.

"Let's," Sheena said as she took his hand.

* * *

**A/N:** Finally! It took me long enough to finish this!(hits himself) At least I got a bunhc of crap in SC3! As I was saying, I'm glad to finally get this chapter up. It gave you a bit of insight on Pietro and Kate's relationship, which I had fun improvising on the spot. XD No, seriously (sweatdrop). I hope that everyone liked this. Unless they have all gone on to new, more frequently updated fanfics, which I hope they haven't. The next chapter will have the characters dealing with the rabid fangirls/boys in the crowd, as well as a new conspiracy involving something I can't tell you about yet. (But I have the idea in my head, trust me). I thank you readers for reading this humble fanfiction. Until next time. 

**King Kamor**


	6. The First Day: Part Two

A/N: Thank you all for the magnificent reviews. All of them gave me some much-needed confidence and even some new ideas. A writer is nothing without his readers, and this is turning out to actually have some. I couldn't be more thankful to all of the readers(bows). I hope that I didn't keep you guys waiting while I was gone. I was kinda grounded for my grades last semester, so I wasn't allowed to go online or play video games!(sobs) 

Celcius: (jumps into the air and does a flying kick at Kamor) Why are Zelos and Kratos with the party at the same time!

Me: (steps to the side, letting her crash into the wall) Um... convenient plot-hole?

Celcius: (crawls out of the rubble)What'd ya do that for?

Me: Hey, it was either my head or that wall. And I happen to know that your foot is harder than my head.

Celcius: Oh, so I guess that you want me to do the disclaimer now:(

Me: Yeah, that'd be good.

Celcius: Fine. King Kamor doesn't own the game Tales of Symphonia or any of it's characters.

Ivan: What's up, Jon?

Me(real name is Jon): Oh, but I own that guy! Me's the main character in my story!

Ivan: Yup.

Regal: This is your main character? I'll bet I could kill him with my patented Hadouken tecknique! HADOUKEN! (fires a blast of blue energy at Ivan.)

Ivan: (Blocks the blast with a barrier, and redirects the energy back at Regal, frying him to desired crispiness.)

Me: Aaaaanyway... I'm glad that everyone is enjoying this. Most people usually don't read up to the second entry on any other sites I've put my writings on. So, for those of you that have read up to here; Wow. Have a cookie. And some milk. Hell, have the entire dairy farm and cookie factory. You deserve it. Now, on with the story!

Regal: damned showoff... (fizzletwitchpainstingmoan)

Ivan: Uh... Sorry?

* * *

**Chapter 6: Day one: Part 2**

"Ah! My scarf! Give that back! Ow!" Lloyd yelled as a fangirl snatched his white ribbon-like scarf from his neck and ran of with it. In the interim, another fangirl cut off a lock of his hair. He held onto Sheena's hand, who was surrounded by fanboys. They were gazing at her voluptuous body in awe like the infatuated nerds they were (no offense to nerds, I'm one myself).

"Not the Face! No! Not my headband! NOT MY FREAKING HEADBAND!" Zelos shouted out as an exeptionally rabid fangirl ripped his headband off of his head. Next to him, Raine was being engulfed by fanboys and archaeologists, being asked questions, pummeled with digging site assignments, and asked for autographs. "Fine. Guardian!" A green glowing shield appeared around him, and the fangirls were pushed back. While they were dazed, Zelos looked over at Raine, whose hand was sticking out of the heap of fanboys on top of her. He grabbed her hand, and yanked her out as he took out his wings. They shot into the air, away from the crowd. "I never thought I'd would have that many gorgeous hunnies!" He yelled excitedly. Raine simply shook her head in annoyance.

Back on the ground, the rest of the party was fended off the fans with various objects that were found in convenient places. Pietro, Kate, and Chocolat hid back on the boat, locking the door. Not even rabid fans could break through these doors! Lloyd had grabbed a push broom from a little shack on the dock and started beating them away. "Let's go!"

Presea found an oar and started wacking away at the crowd. "Do not think ill of us..."

Genis found a little kid's kendama and began to beat people away with it, using fire magic to help keep them away. "Burn!"

Sheena found a deck of playing cards, quickly infused them with wind power using Silva Seal: Wind, and blew people away effortlessly. Regal used his normal hands and feet, occasionally using his patented Hadouken tecknique. "Let's see if numbers can make up for the difference in strength..." Colette and Kratos flew into the air with Zelos and Raine.

"Shouldn't we help them?" Colette asked nervously as she hovered up in the air next to Zelos.

"They should be able to handle it themselves," Kratos said confidently, floating next to Colette, "They should be finished in at least fifteen minutes."

"Nah, I bet you they should be done in about ten minutes," Zelos said, letting Raine ride piggy-back without much objection on her part.

**Ten minutes later:**

"Wow, what a battle!" Lloyd said, wiping his forehead. The landscape outside of Altamira was full of craters and burn marks, as well as several hundred knocked out fans. Those that fought were exhausted. The three angels and half elf landed in front of them.

"Boo-ya! I so called that!" Zelos said in triumph as he thrust his fist in the air. Kratos silently handed over fifty gald, a vein of anger pulsing on his head.

* * *

**A few hours later at the Lezareno company:**

"Master Regal, do come in, sir," George said in greeting. Regal and the rest of the party stepped out of the elevator, dressed in their regular clothes. All twelve of them stood before the moustached man, waiting for him to tell them why he asked them to come. George sat at his desk and flipped through some papers before speaking. "All of you may have noticed that the hourde of fans has been eradicated. This is both good and bad. All of them were guests at the resort, so they have just missed out on their own vacations." All of them looked away from George, avoiding eye contact. They didn't know that they were all staying in the resort; the entire crowd slept in sleeping bags for Martel's sake! "As for the good news," George continued, "All of you have Altamira all to yourselves. Nobody will come to bother you for autographs and such. So, please, enjoy your vacation while you can."

Before everyone left the room, George motioned Regal to stay for a moment. Once the others had left, Regal stood silently in front of George, and George in front of Regal. "Sir, you are aware of what may happen at the exphere mines when we try to demolish it, correct?"

"I trusted you to take care of all aspects of the mine so that I could focus on the company's trade and income, but I was thinking of delving into the matter myself." Regal said.

"The scattered energy from expheres is still too unstable for us to do much. We both can think of one million reasons why not to demolish it yet, but I'm more worried about the reasons we _can't_ think of. Sir, I suggest that if anything happens to awaken there, you and your friends should go and stop it."

"I agree completely."

George smiled, "Thank you for your time, Mr. President."

Regal smirked as well, "I haven't been called that for a good while"

* * *

**At the beach:**

"Wahoo!" Lloyd yelled as he jumped into the ocean from a leap of at least twenty feet. He had on his blue swim trunks, as well as his goggles and snorkel. The water sprayed up into the air as he plunged into it, doing a cannon ball. Sheena was on the beach, chuckling as hesplashed around. She laid back on her towel, the sun gleaming off of her beautiful skin, and slid her sunglasses over her eyes. Back in the water, Lloyd and Zelos were wrestling eachother in and out of the water, and Kratos was simply laying on top of it as they faught. He let himself be carried by the current along with the waves that Zelos and Lloyd created. Collete was busying herself by building a sandcastle with Genis. He kept the sand damp with his magic, so that it wouldn't fall apart. Raine was sitting at the beach bar... in the seat farthest from the water. Presea was sprawled out on the sand next to Sheena, wearing a purple and white one-piece swimsuit. Even though she was technically twenty-eight, she looked like a normal little girl taking a nap on the beach.

Sheena pushed her sunglasses up to her forehead, and looked at the pink-haired girl, "Are you awake, Presea?" She said. Presea just continued her soft, steady breathing. Sheena smiled slyly, and got up from her towel. She scooped up some sand and started to pat it onto Presea's belly. Seeing as the girl didn't wake up, Sheena persisted in the piling. Before long, a small mountain of sand covered all but Presea's head. Sheena was snickering deviously as she kneeled next to the mound, which was about as tall she was.

"What're you doing, Sheena?" Lloyd asked as he walked up to her. He grabbed a towel from his bag and began to dry himself off.

Sheena couldn't help but stare at his chest and abs, which were images far removed from what she usually saw of him. "Uh, I'm just burying Presea. See? She isn't waking up!" She laughed.

"That could be called cruel and unusual punishment, you know," Lloyd joked, and kicked the mountain of sand onto her. The sand cascaded down in a miniature landslide, and engulfed Sheena in a few seconds.

"AAAAGH! NOOOOO!" Sheena screamed, and acted as if she were truly being overcome by the sand. Lloyd was doubled-over laughing.

Over at Colette and Genis' sandcastle, they had just finished building the balcony for the southern tower... and gazed down at Zelos from it. The castle was at least twenty feet tall, had four towers, and had about a 25-by-25 foot area inside. Thanks to Genis' magic, the sand stayed solid enough for them to stand on it. Lloyd and Sheena didn't even want to know where they got all the sand for it without it creating a trench on the beach.

"Hey!" Zelos shouted up to them, "How the hell did you guys make this thing! It's freaking huge!"

"Colette did most of the sand-patting, and I used magic to keep the sand from falling apart!" Genis yelled down to Zelos.

Zelos put his hand on his forehead, and looked at the ground, "You really need to get a life, shrimp!" Just as he ended his sentence, a fireball exploded on the sand next to him! "Ack!"

"I dare you to say that again, Zelos!" Genis shouted as he shook his kendama at the Chosen in a speedo.

"You brought your kendama to the beach?"

Kratos watched from the water as Genis and Zelos began to hurl magic at eachother. Explosions and lightning strikes and blades of wind engulfed the masterpiece of a sandcastle. It eventually collapsed into a giant heap of sand that put Sheena to shame. Regal had walked in after it collapsed and KOed them both. There was silince on the beach. Kratos said annoyingly to himself, "What a waste of mana..."

"Regal!" Lloyd said happily as the blue-haired man walked towards him with Genis under his left arm and Zelos over his right shoulder. Both of them had large, red bumps on the top of their heads.

"Where've you been for the past few hours?" Sheena asked as she unburied herself from the sand, though most of it stayed on her body.

Regal laid them down on the sand and said, "I had some minor income issues with the Lezareno company."

"Okay, then," Lloyd said. He looked down at Presea who was, amazingly, still asleep! "Uhm..."

"What on earth did you do to them? They're covered in sand!" Regal asked with bewilderment. "What happened while I was gone?"

"Just a bit of fun, Regal. It's fine," Sheena said with a smile.

* * *

**Later:**

Lloyd and Sheena were resting on towels next to eachother, for both of them had gotten back into the water earlier to get the sand off of their bodies. Sheena had her hair down so that it could dry better. The sun was going down, and cast shades of red, pink, and orange across the horizon. Everyone but the two of them had left to beach for the hotel.

Lloyd sat up on his towel, "So, what do you want to do after we get changed at the hotel?"

"I'm not sure," Sheena said as she ran her fingers through her hair. She also sat up, and scooted towards Lloyd. She rubbed her head on his shoulder like a cat and said, "I wouldn't mind spending some more time with you, though," as she rested her head right below his chin.

Lloyd put his arm around her shoulders and said, "I wouldn't mind that, either." They smiled at eachother, and kissed just as the sun went down into the ocean.

* * *

**Toize Valley Mines:**

"What the hell is going on here, Ace?" George shouted to the mine-destruction operator, Ace. George wore his normal brown suit with a hard-hat on his head. Several miners spen past him towards the exit, their faces drenched in fear.

"When did you get here, sir?" Ace said. He had shoulder-length black hair, and wore a white tank-tope with kakhi pants and brown boots. He was still in his twenties, but Regal had recognized his adeptness with explosives, and hired him to take care of the mines.

"I took Sir Regal's rheaird from Altamira. Now tell me, what's going on?"

"I'm not all too sure myself, sir." Ace said as he led George running through the mine shaft, which was full of workers who were fleeing in the other direction. "I haven't seen it yet, myself, but it has already killed several workers." George had a scared and serious expresion on his face. Sweat dripped down the side of his face as he though of the possibilities of what had awakened in the mine. "Though it goes without saying, whatever it is isn't keen on the idea of us destroying these mines."

"If it goes without saying, then don't say it. Otherwise, you're just overstating the obvious _and_ wasting time!" George said critically. "And no matter what you say, we're all in trouble right now." They stopped in front of the large stone door in the back of the mine.

"This is where we found it," Ace said inbetween breaths. The large stone door had cracks on the sides from the explosives that were used to open it. It was closed at this time. No human, not even Regal, could have set it back into place with such precision. Something non-human had closed it by itself and somehow melted the edges shut.

George looked fearfully at the door. _There was a reason that Regal had sealed off this part of the mine... Martel, why did they have to open the door so forcefully? Now everyone will have to suffer through what is in there..._ George though to himself. Then, he noticed something different about the rocky walls around the door. "Ace...?"

"Yes, sir?"

"...What happened to all of the exspheres on the walls?"

Ace looked about the walls of the shaft, but there weren't any expheres to be found at all in the once-thriving mine. There was a thud from the other side of the door. Ace and George turned towards it and started to back away, getting ready to run. Before they knew it, a long, thin, black blur burst straight through the stone door at them.

There was silence in the mine. Back at Altamira, the party had just said cheers at their dinner table at a fancy restaurant.

* * *

A/N: Hey! Glad to be back. You know, last chapter when I said there will be a new "conspiracy?" It's not really a conspiracy, but it's something bad, I assure you. I hope that you guys overlook the mistakes made while I rushed through this chapter.(sweatdrop) I'm so happy that I managed to finish this. I was so annoyed that I half of this just sitting around in cyberspace as I was grounded, unable to even work on it. 

Cecius: It's your fault for being such a lazy ass all last semester.

Me: (chucks his spiffy new A English grade and at her) What now, biatch?

Celcius: Noooo! (dies... for some reason)

Me: Anyway, I hope that I get some great reviews from you guys.

Yuan: Hey, why am I not mentioned yet?

Me: Shut up and go take your brownies out of the oven.

Yuan: (smells smoke) AAAH! My brownies are burning! (runs into the kitchen)

Me: Anyway, see you guys in the next chapter! Hey, get out of my house, Yuan!


	7. Without Warning

**A/N:** I hope that you guys liked the last chapter. I had fun throwing around new ideas and dramatic effects. I hope that they worked out well, and that the ending wasn't as bad as I thought. I'll also try to add in some more details so that you guys can get a better picture of what I intend to give you. 

Celcius: It wasn't dramatic! That ending sucked!

Me: The reviewers don't think so. You're just a figment of Namco's imagination, so you don't count.

Celcius: Noooooooo!(dies... again)

Ivan: Disclaimer time! King Kamor doesn't own Tales of Symphonia or any of the characters affiliated with it, Namco does.

Me: Thanks, Ivan.

Ivan: No prob.

Me: Now, on with it!

* * *

**Chapter 7: Without Warning  
**

Regal had built a high-class restaurant in Altamira before the incident with Alicia. He had personally taught all of the chefs, and hand-picked all of the foods on the menu. Never had the place gotten bad reviews from Meltokio Times. Right outside of the entrance was a sign that read, "Maximum capacity: 4000." The exterior of the building was full of gracefully-crafted artchitecture with white stone and red flags with gold trim. The interior of the restaurant was gargantuan, and full of pillars that were laid out in a grid-like pattern. In a square formed by the pillars, ten tables could be placed comfortably with room to spare. The main room of the restaurant was five pillars by five pillars. Each pillar was very ancient-looking, and had four red flags with gold trim hanging from the top, which pointed at the four other pillars around them. Every table had a white table cloth and four elegant chairs. The twelve friends sat in the center square of pillars, which was set on a slightly lower level than the rest of the room. Steps that led down to the large table were bordered by potted plants, and the cieling above them was a high shaft that let sunlight come through. It seemed to them that they were in paradise.

Above the group's table was the night sky, and the crescent moon was shone brilliantly in the blackness. As they told stories and conversed with eachother, the light of the moon and stars shined down on them and made their glasses and plates shine with a bluish glow. "Regal, without your contrabution, this trip wouldn't have ever happened," Zelos said, standing up from his seat for his toast. "You're the coolest old guy I've ever met!"

"Cheers!" Everybody yelled as they held up their glasses and took small sips of their drinks. Regal just laughed at Zelos' last statement, and took a sip of wine.

Zelos smiled and continued. "And finally, my bud, Lloyd." He looked down at Lloyd, who was sitting inbetween him and Sheena. "Without you... well, none of us will be alive right now... All of us worked hard, but not as much as Lloyd." Everyone was silent. "But we all kicked major ass anyway, didn't we?" Everyone laughed, and Zelos sat down, ending his toast. Next in line was Lloyd, who nervously stood up from his seat.

He held his glass of apple cider in his right hand, and coughed into his left. "So... here we all are... alive, having dinner and drinking to eachother's toasts. All of you thank me for being the one who saved the worlds, but I should be thanking everyone else. I wouldn't be here without any of you. I realized that last night while we were on the boat. If some of us had never met eachother, then Mithos would still have his way, and many more Chosens would have died for the sake of his stupid ideals." Everyone started to wear somewhat solemn expressions. "But if we were the ones defeated, then Mithos could be talking to Kratos, Yuan, Remiel, and the five Grand Cardinels about the same things: how we were wrong and they were right, and how they triumphed over 'evil'... Everyone has their own views on things, and I beleive that Mithos' intentions weren't to kill so many people. He was just lonely, and wanted his sister. I don't want to say that he was right and we were wrong; our only difference was that he chose a different path than us. I beleive now that it wasn't all his fault, and that he wasn't all that bad. I say that tonight, we don't drink to victory, but we drink to Mithos. He's with Martel now, and happy."

"Cheers," Everyone said at the same time.

* * *

Later: 

"That was some speach, Bud!" Zelos said to Lloyd, and nudged him with his shoulder before taking a bite of steak.

Lloyd scratched the back of his head and said, "Well, ever since Regal told me last night that everyone would need to do a toast, I spent half the night writing and memorizing it..."

"Hey, that's right," Sheena broke in, "I saw you in your room on the boat leaning over a piece of paper!" She laughed heartily. "So _that's_ what it was!"

"Shut up!"

"Regal, this steak is absolutely amazing!" Raine said, despite herself.

"Thank you, Raine. I made this one myself in the kitchen. I'm glad that you like it." Regal said modestly.

"O' course we like it!" Zelos interrupted, and put an arm around Raine's shoulders.

"W-what are you doing, Zelos?" Raine asked with a red face.

Zelos' cheeks were red, and he held a wine glass in the opposite hand that he held Raine. "Ai'm just enoyin' the party! All hail Zelos Wilder and his hunnies!" _SCHLAP!_ "Augh!"

"Well..." Kate said nervously from the other side of the table. "Such... lively people they are."

"I guess you could say that," Pietro said. "We were at the amusement park while they were at the beach. According to Regal, they had a lot of fun!" He laughed a litte.

"I don't care what they had at the beach, the rollercoaster was amazing!" Chocolat yelled happily. She then glanced over at Kate, "But you were scared out of your wits!"

Pietro laughed.

"I-I've lived in the lab for most of my life, so I haven't ever been on a ride like that..." Kate looked at her plate, blushing slightly.

"Don't worry about it, okay?" Pietro patted her on the back.

After a long conversation with Raine about some ruins, Regal excused himself from the table. He walked through the restaurant to the eastern entrance (there are five entrances in all). He approached a young man wearing a black suit.

"Greetings, Mr. president," The young man said after a deep bow.

"Has George come back from the Toize Valley Mine yet? He should have been back by now. My rheaird isn't exactly slow."

"I haven't seen him since he left, Sir."

"But that was three hours ago..." Regal put his hand on his chin in thought._ If everything was just fine, then George should have been back an hour ago. So that only means that _something _is wrong._ "Thank you. I'll have to excuse myself." Regal speed-walked back into the restaurant, and ended up at his friends' table again. He was greeted by Lloyd and Sheena first, followed by everyone else. He remained standing and said, "I'm sorry, everyone, but some urgent business regarding the Lezareno Company has arose. I'll have to excuse myself from the rest of our dinner. Lloyd, may I borrow your rheaird?"

"Oh, sure," Lloyd said after swollowing his food. He tossed him the wing pack that contained the flying vehicle.

* * *

**Later:**

As Regal flew speedily through the sky, he thought about what could have happened to his Vice President. He had already been flying for an hour, and the mine was in sight._Finally!_ He thought, but as he got closer, he saw smoke coming from inside the mine! "What?" Regal sped to the ground at the mouth of the mine, hovered a little with dust kicking up, and set the flying machine down. Black smoke was billowing out of the mine as if a wild fire had been raging there for hours. Regal covered his mouth and nose, and ran into the mouth of the mountain to see the security system completely destroyed. There weren't any signs of magic. No burn marks, lightning strikes, ice, water, or even one solitary upturned stone. It was blown from the inside of the mine out... with shear force. Brushing it off, he traversed the mazelike tunnels easily and came upon the large inner cavern. All of the old mining equipment was crushed or burning. Not one man was found throughout the entire area.

"M-Mrs President!" A voice shouted from the back of the cavern.

Regal promptly replied, "Who's there? Are there any others with you?"

"It's me, Ace! George is with me!"

Regal felt a sudden wave of relief. His right hand man and leader of mining operations were still alive. He rushed over to the area where he thought Ace's voice had come from. When he came upon them, Ace was leaning against a boulder just outside the stone door. He had a deap wound on his shoulder. Next to him was George, who was unconscious, with his clothes torn all over.

"What happened?" Regal demanded. "Why is the mine like this, and why are you hurt?"

Ace looked up at his boss and said, "Sorry, sir. We planned to cave in the small cavern behind that stone slab, but it wouldn't open. So we used powerful explosives to open it."

"You used explosives? Why? You should have asked me about it before you went any further!"

"I apologise, sir..." Then, he flinched and held his right palm rather than his shoulder. Regal glanced at Ace's hand and saw a glint of an all-too-familiar sphere.

Regal grabbed Ace's hand and put it mere inches in front of his eyes. He had placed an exphere on himself without a key crest! "You fool! Don't you know what happens when you place an exphere on yourself without a key crset?"

"I was fully aware, sir. But the need had risen."

* * *

**two hours ago:**

"What is that thing?" George shouted as the black tentacle lashed out at the nearby miners.

Ace jumped out of the way of the tentacle and shouted, "That's the creature that was sealed behind the stone door! I thought that it would be calm after the door closed, but--" The tentacle swatted him across the face, slamming him into a wall. He fell to the ground hard with a thud, followed by several snapping sounds and a wail of pain.

"Ace!" George shouted. Then, the tentacle spit into at least ten smaller ones, and thrust themselves towards him. Most of them only tore at his clothes, but some of them stabbed through his skin. Whatever was attacking him wasn't too keen on accuracy.

"D-dammit..." Ace mumbled as he struggled to get to his feet. He had a sharp pain in his chest; he had at least two broken ribs on each side. He coughed up blood and collapsed to the ground once again. He growled in frustration, and saw several glint of light on the ground in front of him. _Expheres! _He thought to himself. Without a second thought, he grabbed one and thrusted it halfway into the back of his right hand. "GAAAAH!" He screamed. He felt the bones in his rib cage repair, and his exhaustion seep away. Strength surged through him, and he dashed towards George just before another large tentacle tried to crush him. "George! Wake up!" He picked up the older man and jumped out of the way of the tentacle once again.

"...Ace?" George barely managed to say.

"Don't talk, sir. I'm going to put you somewhere safe!"

"What will _you _do, then?"

"I may not look like it," Ace dodged the tentacle yet again, "but I've trained a few years in the same martial arts as President Bryant! I may not be a vetran in it like he is, but with this exphere, I may have a slight chance." Ace set George down behind a boulder.

"Do what you will. We're both going to die, anyway."

"That's not like you, sir!" Ace smiled, and reached into his pocket. He pulled out two sets of spiked brass knuckles. "The least you can do is humor my ideas like you usually do." George smirked, and closed his eyes into unconsciousness.

Ace jumped over the boulder towards the tentacles. One of the tentacles noticed him, and thrust towards him quicker than the eye. With his new exphere equiped, he could see it coming clear as day. He spun to the side in midair, letting the tentacle fly past him, and used the momentum of his spin to punch through the skin of the tentacle. It was bloodless. Not a drop of blood came from underneath it's skin. It retracted into the hole in the stone slab. "Yes!" Ace shouted as he landed on the ground. The three other tentacles swung at him. He ducked to avoid one, jumped to avoid another, and thrust his fist into a third one, stopping it in it's tracks. The one that he hit retracted as well. Then, the two remaining ones came at him at once. One from above, and another from the left. Ace bent his legs, put up his arms, and blocked them both with his bare hands. The ground underneath his feet cracked, and his arms strained under the pressure.

Suddenly, the tentacle that came down from above grew a small extension on it's side! "What?" Ace said blankly, his eyes wide with horror. The smaller tentacle thrust into his shoulder, blood sprayed out, and he let out a scream. He then put all of his strength into his right arm, and pounded the top tentacle into the one on his left. There was a kind of high-pitched shriek, and they retreated into the hole in the stone slab. The mine was quiet. Ace slumped against the boulder from before and said, "A hit-and-run, huh? I don't care as long as I survive the hit and you run..."

* * *

**Present:**

"So that's what happened..." Regal said with his hand on his chin. He looked up at Ace. "Good work. I'll take you two back to Altamira to get you healed. Not to mention a key crest."

Ace stood up and said with a bow. "Thank you for your generosity, sir."

Regal picked up George and held him under his left arm. "Let's go before that creature attacks again."

"Yes, sir."

* * *

**A/N: **Hey! What's up! It's spring break right now, and I just got pumped up enough to finish this chapter. Seriously, I finished two thirds of this in about an hour. I hope that you guys will stay interested in my fanfic long enough to figure out what the hell that creature is. If you want to know what it is right now, well... too bad! just wait until the next chapter! If you guys review, I may work on it faster! So review, review, review! 

Celcius: I doubt that they will.

Me: Shut up! You're supposed to be dead!

Celcius: Says you! you're the one that keeps bringing me back to life like this! And, frankly, it sucks!

Me: Uh...

Ivan: I am honored to be created by you in the for of a Soul Calibur 3 creation character.

Me: you're welcome. Sorry to make you the pirate class, though.

Ivan: Wait, I'm a pirate? You ass! I'm supposed to be a good guy! I don't shout out "Arg, me hearties!" on a regular basis like Lloyd!

Me: Sorry!

Ivan: (aside: dumbass)

Me: It's not an aside if I can hear it, you know. Besides, I make up everything you say, anyway!

Ivan: Bastard...

Me: Anyway, I hope that you guys liked this chapter as well as my bad humor. Until next time!

**King Kamor**


	8. This Mine is Mine!

**A/N: **Thank you all for the great reviews. I felt that Lloyd's speach was kind of iffy, but I guess it turned out okay. I'm glad that all of you liked the battle scene I cooked up for Ace, too, since I had a lot of fun writing it. I've never written a battle scene with much martial arts in it like that, so it was a little something new. Also, I'm so sorry for the delay; I had to stay off of the net for awhile to finish an English project that was worth 400 points. That's the entire Iliad unit! Anyway, I hope that I make up for the delay with this chapter.

Celcius: He needed an exphere to fight that thing? Come on, I could've taken that thing out in a split second!

Me: Yeah, well, you're not human, so you don't count... again.

Ivan: Boy, she doesn't count for a lot of things...

Celcius: (Cries in a corner)

Ivan: Disclaimer! King Kamor doesn't own anything pertaining to this game, Tales of Symphonia. Only Ace, this storyline, and myself are his.

Me: Well said. Now, on with it!

* * *

**Chapter 8: The Mine is Mine!  
**

"Regal! What happened to George?" Lloyd asked with surprise when he saw the old man under Regal's arm. The young swordsman had been standing outside the elevator to get to his room when Regal had walked in. He then saw Ace trudging through the door of the hotel with bandages on his shoulder.

"There was an accident at the mine," Regal said as he laid George down in a chair in the lobby.

"I'll go and get Raine. She can heal him." Lloyd dashed towards the elevator.

"Lloyd! Wait a moment!"

Lloyd stopped in his tracks and said, "What is it?"

"Ace needs a key crest for his exphere, and the Lezareno Company doesn't have the inhibitor ore needed to make one."

"What? Why does he have an exph--"

There's no time to explain! I'll get Raine to heal them, but I need you to fly to either Dirk's or Altessa's to get some of the ore." Ace suddenly coughed up some blood onto the floor of the lobby. "Ace doesn't have much time before he turns into a monster. Can you get the ore and come back in forty five minutes at least?"

"I'll do it in ten!" Lloyd dashed out the door, and brandished his glowing blue wings as he got outside. He pushed off of the ground and jetted through the sky like a shooting star with a twenty-foot wingspan. Cracks appeared on the tiles in which he pushed off of.

Ace sat down in a chair next to George. "I apologize, sir. This is all my fault. I will take full responsibility for this incident."

"No, Ace. It was my fault for not notifying you of what laid behind that door." Regal ran to the elevator, "I'll get our healer. Just wait here and don't die on us."

* * *

**Somewhere in the skies near Iselia:**

Lloyd flew through the clouds as fast as he could, and scanned his eyes on the ground for his adoptive father's small house. Once his eyes spotted Iselia forest, he knew that he was close. In order not to overshoot his destination, he slowed down and began to hover just above the clouds. When he saw Dirk's house, he shot straight towards it with his wings close to his sides like a hawk in a dive. Just before he hit the ground, he opened his wings again, and slowed to a stop.

"Dad!" Lloyd screamed as he dashed into the house.

Dirk was sitting at his little dinner table eating wild boar as his adoptive son bashed through the door. He was so surprised that he fell off of his chair! "L-Loyd? What a surprize!"

"There's no time to talk, dad! A friend of mine equiped an exphere without a key crest, and needs inhibitor ore!" Lloyd shouted

"What?"

"Hurry!"

"O-okay! I'll get it!" Dirk got to his feet and rushed outside with Lloyd following suit. The dwarf quickly sifted through different kinds of rocks in the shed and walked out with a small disk-shaped piece of inhibitor ore. "You need to hurry! If someone accidentally touches the exphere or makes it shift out of place in any way, your friend will turn into a moster immediately."

"I understand."

"GO!" Dirk shouted, and Lloyd shot into the sky towards the horizon. Only a few featheres remained in front of the dwarf. _Lloyd... just what in the world ar__e you getting into? If you and all of your friends know the truth about expheres, then none of you would equip one on the fly without a key crest. From what you told me, that Toize Valley Mine is the only place to find any new expheres... Just what happened there...?

* * *

_**Altamira:**

"Hang in there, Ace. Just bear with me for the time being." Raine said as she held her staff above Ace's wounded shoulder, white healing magic hovering over the bloody mess. Ace gritted his teeth as his shoulder's bones started to mend, and his regenerating skin enclosed over it.

"Man, he's really banged-up, isn't he?" Zelos said. He had come down with Raine to check out what was going on. Why they were together was anyone's guess. Both of them had changed back into their normal clothes.

"He's going to be just fine." Raine said as she finished up. "As long as Lloyd gets here soon with the inhibitor ore, he'll survive."

"Thank you, miss Raine," Ace said gratefully.

"Why, you're welcome!" She seemed very happy about his thankfullness.

"You're more happy about his 'miss' comment, aren't you?" Zelos said with a sly smile.

"What?" Raine shouted, standing up from her patient. "Are you saying that I'm old?"

"Well, _are_ turning twenty--" Before he could finish his sentence, he found that Raine had smashed her staff across his face. He tumbled across the lobby and into the wall.

"Wow, my gorgeous beauty! You've never hit me _that_ hard before! Ha ha!" He held the back of his head where a large bump had formed.

Ace stared, dumbfounded, at what had just happened. He looked at Zelos and back at Raine. He motioned Regal to come towards him. The president kneeled next to him. "Remind me never to get on her bad side," he whispered to Regal.

"Don't worry, she usually doesn't hurt the people that she heals often. Zelos is an acception. One time, she hit him with her staff and healed him, then hit him again." Regal said with a slight chill.

"She's scary..."

"Hey! I'm here!" A familiar voice shouted from the entrance to the resort hotel.

"Lloyd! That was fast!" Regal said, standing up from where Ace was resting on the floor. "Did you obtain the inhibitor ore?"

"Yeah, and I carved the charm in it on the way here. Good thing that I swerved to miss that tree!"

"You almost hit a tree?" Regal exclamed.

"Well, I dodged the first one, at least..." He laughed and scratched the back of his head.

"...Anyway, Ace, I have a key crest for you." Regal took it from Lloyd and walked over to Ace. He placed it on the young man's right hand, and he seemed to relax.

"Thank you, Mr. Irving." Ace said respectfully to Lloyd.

"Don't mention it."

"Hey, guys, what's going on?" A woman said as she walked from the elevator. It was Sheena, and she already had her pajamas on and her hair had been let down. Her pajamas were a simple button-up top and long thin-fabric pants.

Lloyd looked at her and said, "Is that proper Mizuho sleeping attire?"

"Not exactly; but it is more comfortable. Anyway, what happened?"

Lloyd, Raine, Regal, and Zelos explained what had happened.

"So, what are you guys going to do now that Ace has his key crest?" Sheena asked once they had finished.

"I think that we should rest up and go back to the mines in the morning," Lloyd said.

"No, I say that we take that thing out right now!" Zelos yelled.

"That would be completely wreckless!" Raine retorted, "If that monster is unknown, then Lloyd has the right idea to research-- I mean fight it tomorrow."

"I agree with Lloyd and Raine, Zelos. If Ace had such a hard time with it, even with his previous training _and_ an exphere, then I don't think that I would do much better. We'll set out in the morning when we are all rested up and ready to fight."

"Fine." Zelos pouted. "But I'm setting a goal to kill this thing. It's ruined the first leg of our vacation!"

"Whatever, you stupid Chosen," Sheena said before she yawned. "It's almost midnight. Let's all go to bed, or we won't be rested up in the morning at all."

"'Kay." Zelos said, and put his hands on the back of his head as he walked towards the elevator. Everyone else followed him.

* * *

**Later that night:**

(Insert "On the hill at night" rom Tales of Symphonia Soundtrack disk 2)

Lloyd walked through the halls of the restort towards Sheena's room. He still wore his normal red clothes at this time of night, including his Material Blades. The extravagantly-decorated hallway looked as if it were a temple from ancient times. His footsteps made echoes throughout the walls and back towards him. When he knocked on Sheena's door, nobody answered. He eased the unlocked door open, and saw that the lights were out. _I guess it's okay if I come in,_ He thought, _I mean, the door's open._ He walked into the decorated dark room that seemed to engulf him in it's beauty. He silently walked over to Sheena's bed, which had a large transpaent sheet over it from the canopy. It was like a veil.

"Sheena?" Lloyd said quietly, still a ways away from her bed. After a few seconds, he heard a rustle of sheets from the bed.

"Lloyd?" Sheena said with sleepily. Lloyd was able to see a silhouette of her sitting up in her bed. "What are you doing in my room?"

"I just wanted to talk to you is all."

Sheena sleepily threw aside the sheets and parted the veil. She seemed even more beautiful with the moon shining through the window onto her skin. She walked over to him and walked past him, motioning him to come with her to the couch. He followed her as she sat down on the couch and turned the light on. Both of them half-closed their eyes in order to adjust to the light. Lloyd sat down next to her.

"So, what's on your mind, Lloyd?" She asked, scooting closer to him.

Lloyd looked down at the floor. "I'm not too sure myself. I feel... what's the word? Conflicted? Does that make sense?"

"Yeah. What do you feel conflicted about?"

"Well, I feel that I should go and destroy that thing in the mines right now, and save everyone else the trouble. I'm sure that I could defeat it. I mean, I _am_ the Eternal Swordsman. The thing is, I don't know exactly how strong it is, how to attack it, or if I would worry you or anyone else if I took too long."

"So you don't know if you should go or not?"

"Pretty much."

Sheena rested her head on his shoulder and held his hand. "Lloyd, just wait for morning, okay? I'm not saying that you aren't strong enough to defeat it... I'll just feel much better if I could fight alongside you. If you left right now, then I'll just follow you." She looked up at him into his eyes.

"Sheena..." He looked at her, and kissed her lightly. She put one hand on his shoulder and the other on his chest and hugged him."I'm sorry."

"What?"

He jabbed her in the gut, knocking her unconscious. She closed her eyes, and fell limp. Lloyd carried her to her bed, and laid her down gently. "I'll see you when I get back. I promise." He brandished his blue wings, and flew out of the balcony window through the night sky.

* * *

**Toize Valley Mines:**

Lloyd flew through the air faster than he did when he went to get the inhibitor ore. The clouds he flew through seemed to part as he skewered them. If was hardly fifteen minutes before he got to the mines. He hovered above the mouth of the mine, gazing into it's dark bowels.

"Well, here I go," he said, brandishing his Material Blades.

"Hey, hold up, Bud!" An all-too-familiar voice yelled from behind him. Lloyd turned around to see Zelos float down on his orange wings.

"Zelos? What're you doing here?"

"I should ask you the same thing, pal!"

Suddenly, they heard a girl's voice yelling from the sky behind them, "Hey! Wait for me!" Colette yelled, and clumsily screached to a halt in midair in front of them.

"You, too, Colette?" Lloyd said. Then, he saw a glowing blue object in the distance. "Kratos?"

Indeed it was. He came to a stop in front of them and said, "This is surprizing, isn't it?"

"Why are all of you here? To defeat the monster?"

"What the hell else?" Zelos said with his arms crossed.

"Yeah. That thing seems too strong for normal people to beat, so I thought that I could do it by myself!" Colette said happily.

"I didn't think too much of this creature at first," Kratos said, "but after I heard Regal's story, I decided to come here and kill it."

"Great angels think alike!" Zelos said with a laugh.

"Whatever. Now that we all have four times the power that each of us initially thought, we can kill this thing woth no problem at all!" Lloyd said.

Kratos sighed, "Nevertheless, it's unwise to underestimate any opponent."

They made their way into the mine, using their glowing wings to light the way for them. The twists and turns in the mine were easily traversed from memory until they came upon the stone slab.

"I'd wager this is it?" Zelos said, staring at the huge slab.

"Yeah, I think so." Lloyd said.

"Well, let's bust it down!" Zelos yelled, and drew his sword and shield.

"Might as well. I don't think we can stop you," Kratos said with annoyance.

"Woo hoo! Light Spear..." He spun around in a circle in midair, and pointed his sword at the stone slab. "Cannon!" He shouted, and a huge beam of light magic shot out of the tip of his sword and blasted through the door. It decintegrated a circular section of the slab, and blew what was left inside the cavern beyond it. "Phew! What a rush!"

"fool, you overdid it..." Kratos said to himself.

Colette clapped with a smile and said, "Wow, Zelos! You're a lot stronger than you were before!"

"Why, of course, my hunny. You thought that I flew off to bars every night while on our journey?" Zelos said with a smile.

"Well, yeah, we did," Lloyd said.

"How rude!"

"Stop fighting eachother and follow me." Kratos said as he floated into the large doorway.

"Hey, who died and made you the leader?" With Zelos' shout, there was a rumbling sound from the inards on the cavern he had just opened. A light shot up out of the center of the circular room and hung there in midair, lighting up the walls. The room had rocky walls and spires on the cieling, but the floor was perfectly round and smooth. The cavern itself was at least the size of the colosium. Kratos drew his sword, and Colette took out her chakrams.

"What is that?" Lloyd said as he looked at the figure at the center of the cavern. It was a completely black silhouette of a man, and he had absolutely no defining features like clothing or hair, and he had no ears, eyes, nose, or mouth. His skin was black with a few different-colored specks of light showing through his skin from within.

It's voice thundered throughout the walls of the cavern with a voice even deeper than Regal's, "This mine... is mine!" It shouted. It's arms suddenly extended into long tentacles and lashed out at the floating intruders. The four angels scattered and darted in different directions at great speed, the tentacles destroying some rocks that were behind them. The four repeatedly bounced off of the walls with their weapons ready to strike, and made their way to their opponent.

"Angel Feathers!" Colette shouted as an intricate magic circle appeared beneath her, and three chakrams of light magic shot from her hands with feathers trailing behind them. The black figure swiped it's hand across all three of them, destroying them in the blink of an eye. It then swept it back at Colette in an attempt to ground her. She teleported out of the way and started to fly in a circle around it.

Kratos and Zelos flew to opposite sides of it, and magic circles appeared beneath them both. "Grave!" They shouted at the same time, and spires of earth shot up around the black creature. Several seemed to skewer it, but the dust kicked up masked what really happened. Then, the figure jumped out of the mass of spires, seemingly unharmed, and thrust it's arms to either side of itself at Zelos and Kratos. It's arms both split into at least ten tentacles and flew through the air at them both like spears. Kratos, with great speed, cut all of the tentacles with his sword. Only his sword arm seemed to move, the rest of his body didn't move a muscle. Zelos cast Guardian, and the tentacles bounced off of the barrier harmlessly.

Lloyd pushed off of the cieling of the cavern and straight down at the creature. "Rising Falcon!" He shouted, and used the Material Blades to first stab the monster, and then slash it into two by ripping them out of it's gut to either side. Lloyd swerved to avoid hitting the ground, and hovered in place to see what had happened. The thing's lower body dropped to the ground with a thud, and turned even darker than before, as if rotting. The upper body was glowing from the inside with a rainbow-like light where it was cut. The light seemed to take a new form, and molded to form it's legs, which turned black like before.

"...What the hell are you?" Lloyd asked with a hint of fear, sweat dripping dwon the side of his head.

"... I am the answer to what you fools of humans have done to the expheres..."

* * *

**A/N:** Don't you love cliffhangers? I'm sorry to keep you guys hanging for a month. Some people really like this story, and I didn't live up to uploading thing sooner. To repent, I shall commit seppuku. (takes out a small dagger and takes off his shirt) Okay, take a deep breath... (stabs) OH MY GOD THE PAIN! 

Ivan: Hey, if you die, then I won't be able to kick bad guy ass in the novel!

Me: BLARGH!

Ivan: Hey, are you listening?

Me: (death)

Raine: Child's play, I tell you, child's play. Resurrection!

Me: WTF? I though that I was gonna die! (get's smacked by Raine) Thanks, I needed that. Anyway, I hope that you guys liked this chapter. So, the four angels are about to kick wierd powerful being ass, so look forward to lotsa blood and fighting in the next chapter!

Colette: W00t! Blood! (trips)

Zelos: Awesome! So I get to kick some ass, right?

Me: Well...

Zelos: I _do_ kick ass in the next chapter, right?

Me: Well, yes... and no...

Zelos: Prick.

Me: So, wait until the next chapter to see if anyone kicks ass or not... Because they do, and I think that it'll be worth your time.

Celcius: Hey, pal, why'm I not in this yet?

Me: Don't worry, you'll be in it next chapter, I promise.

Celcius: OMG! I love you! (hugs)

Me: See you next chapter!

**King Kamor**


	9. When Angels Deserve to Die

**A/N:** Hey, people! I'm glad that all of you enjoyed last chapter. Now, just to please you, I'll add this chapter much sooner than the last one. No more of that "Wait one more month for the next chapter" crap! I'm getting into gear and working my delicate gaming/typing fingers to the bone!

On another note, I'll be at Fanime in San Jose, CA on Memorial Day weekend. Say so in your review if you're going.

Me: 'Kay, now that that's out of my system, I have an overdue announcement. I posted the first three chapters of my novel on the fiction press website! (fanfiction doesn't let me put the internet address, so I just typed it normally.) My username on that site is also "King Kamor" and the story title is "Kaosu."

Ivan: I'm in it! Woo hoo!

Me: Just enter 'Search' and type in "Kamor." My username will be one of the two that show up. I hope that you guys can look at it soon. I've posted two chapters with only two reviews by the same person, and submitted the third chapter the same time I uploaded the eighth chapter for this fic, and no reviews. I need reviews!

Sheena: Um, desperate much?

Me: Silence! I have two reviews out of three chapters so far!

Sheena: Whatever, I took out half of my village by angering the almighty spirit of lightning, so what're you complaining about?

Me: Ha! Ive seen worse situations with my characters!

Ivan: It's true. Because of me, my village gets attacked by bandits, and I get a phsycological breakdown.

Me: Yup, pretty much. (nods)

Ivan: Disclaimer! King Kamor doesn't own Tales of Symphonia or any of it's characters.

Me: Now, on with it!

* * *

**Chapter 9: When Angels Deserve to Die**

"Lloyd! Get out of there!" Kratos shouted as a magic circle appeared beneath him. Lloyd flew speedily out of the way, and Kratos shouted, "Thunder Blade!" A large sword made of electricity stabbed into the floor of the cavern right next to the creature, and emitted bolts of lighting at it from the magic circle beneath it. The creature staggered a little, and fell to one knee.

Lloyd flew towards it from the edge of the room, staying close to the ground, and shouted, "Careening Beast!" He slashed both of his swords across the creature's torso, light shining out of it's wounds, and it staggered backwards. He then pushed off of the ground towards it and did a spin in midair. Using the force of his spin and push-off, he pounded the monster in the face with the Flamberge, using as much battle energy as possible. A huge, blue lion head shot out of his sword with a roar, and forcably pushed the black creature into the opposite wall one hundred feet away. A landslide of several tons of rock avalanched down onto the creature, and the blue lion's head disappeared.

Zelos flew down near Lloyd, "Did that do it?" He asked.

"That had to have defeated it! Nothing could survive that!" Colette said with her usual cheeryness.

Kratos' eyes went narrow, and he said, "Don't get your hopes up." The other three angels looked at him with surprize. "None of our attacks seem to be able to wound it. It just regenerates itself and continues to fight with increasing power. The first time it attacked, only a few tentacles tried to attack us. After it was hurt, I assume that it regenerated in the dust kicked up by the Grave spells, and attacked Zelos and myself with ten tentacles each. I hate to find out what it tries to throw at us after attacks like what Lloyd just delivered..."

Lloyd looked at the rocks that had just fallen on the creature. They started to shift, and the creature walked out of the rubble covered in shining wounds. It's body made a kind of resonating sound, and it's wounds shrank into nothing but black, marble-like skin. "Impossible..." Lloyd muttered. Suddenly, the creature disappeared! "What the--?"

"Lloyd! Behind you!" Colette shouted.

Lloyd glaced behind himself to see the black creature with it's hands together above it's head, ready to smash Lloyd into oblivion. He jumped out of the way just before the creature's hands crashed into the floor, creating a shockwave that sent Lloyd flying several yards from his predicted landing spot.

"It's gotten faster!" Zelos shouted, and flew down at the creature like a hawk. He swung his sword at the thing's neck. Just before the blade touched it's skin, it disappeared and stood behind Zelos. "Wha--?" He continued on to avoid the tentacles that came after him.

Kratos swooped down at the creature with his sword at the ready, and slashed at it's right shoulder from behind. In an instant, it's right arm from the elbow down molded into a blade and blocked the sword. With 4000 years of battle experience, Kratos wasn't too surprized, and began a heated swordfight with the creature. Their blades didn't seem to move; in fact, not even Lloyd could see the transition from one parry to another. There weren't even any blurs between them, only after images of their weapons hovering around them. Seeing that it was losing, the creature transformed it's other forearm into a blade! Lloyd glided down to his father and began to attack the creature with his Material Blades. Father and son battered at their opponent in a dance of three blades versus two.

Zelos hovered in place and shouted, "Get away!" The two swordsmen jumped out of the way as Zelos shouted, "Light Spear Cannon!" A beam of light magic at least three feet thick fired from Zelos's sword, and destroyed the creature's head in a spatter of glowing flesh. It's body began to regenerate, but the three swordsmen were faster than that. The three of them got around the creature in a triange.

Colette then shouted, "Holy Song!" And a wave of power-boosting magic swept through her comrades. the creature was still healing itself when they attacked.

The three swordsmen all dashed at the creature at blazingly fast speeds with trails of dust kicking up behind them as they flew at their foe. Zelos and Kratos's swords were enveloped with lightning magic, and the sword in Lloyd's right had was enveloped with wind magic. All of them made a pass at the creature at the same time with one respective thrust. When they all skidded to a stop, they shouted, "Tri-Thrust: Storm!" Two bolts of lightning hit the creature from above with two crashes of thunder, and a wave of wind pressure slammed it into the air. When it fell to the ground, everything from it's waist up was gone. The four angels, still ready to fight, stared at the remains of the creature. When nothing more happened they relaxed.

"Yes!" Zelos shouted, sheathing his sword and plopping onto the floor in exhaustion.

"That was a tough one, wasn't it?" Colette said casually.

"I'll say! It took our best unison attack just to defeat it!" Lloyd said, sheathing his Material Blades with a sigh of relief.

"I'm glad that we all practiced that recently," Kratos said as he coolyput away his sword, "It may not have worked if we didn't practice."

Zelos hopped up to his feet and faced the others with his back to the remnants of the creature. "I'm gonna go and see what that thing is made of. Who knows? Raine might get mad if we don't bring a sample back to her."

"Good point. Knock yourself out," Lloyd said, resting his left hand on the hilt of his sword like he usually does.

"Cool beans." Before Zelos could turn around, a tentacle grabbed his neck from behind, suspending him in midair. Some tentacles split off of the initial one, and lifted Zelos in the air with all four limbs held tightly. The legs of the creature had started to regenerate it's torso! It had already taken on the form of a man, and it's left arm was extended as the tentacle."Let me go, you bastard!" Zelos shouted as the creature pulled the Chosen in closer, and turned his body so that Zelos was facing it.

"Zelos!" Lloyd and Colette shouted in unison, and darted towards them. The creature swatted them away like flies with it's faster-than-before tentacles, and they crashed into the walls of the cavern, rubble falling down around them. Lloyd semed, for the most part, alive. A large boulder fell on top of Colette while she was still recovering from the impact.

"Colette!" Zelos shouted.

"How trivial you humans can be..." The creature said with a haunting tone.

Lloyd pushed a boulder off of himself and stood up with his sword at the ready, "What the hell kind of monster are you?" He asked. He was bleeding from a deep cut above his right eye, and a part of his left sleeve had been ripped off.

"It seems that the time to explain has finally come. Have you noticed how all of the expheres in this mine are gone?"

Lloyd looked around the walls where expheres should have been, yet they weren't there. A chill went up and down Lloyd's spine, and his arm hairs stood on end underneath his sleeves.

"I wager that you have something in mind about what matter of being I am..."

"Don't tell me..." Kratos said, hovering near Colette's location.

"What are you guys thinking about...?" Zelos asked meekly, still unable to get free.

"Must I spell it out for you? I am a being compiled entirely of expheres."

Zelos, Lloyd, and Kratos' eyebrows shot up in surprize and terror.

"Once, I was mearly a primitive spirit wondering these caverns. Due to the scatterd energy of the expheres, I began to gain self-awareness as my exposure to the energies increased over a few decades. At one point, I entered an exphere, which in turn was taken from the walls by a man whose name I have forgotten. He was a miner for this place, I believe. When he equiped me without a key crest, he should have turned into a monster... Instead, I took possession of his body."

"What? Are you telling me that you're human?" Lloyd shouted.

"On the contrary, stupid little boy, I have said nothing of the sort. I took the man's body and came back to these mines. I found that I was able to speak to the spirits of the humans that were inside the expheres. I could feel their pain... their sorrow... their regret... but most of all... I could feel their hate towards humans like you that use them to gain power! I used the man's body as a medium to physically gather all of the expheres embedded in the earth of the mine into this cavern. I absorbed their spirits... their power... and I became what you see before you. It seems that only a being compiled of one thousand and one expheres can obtain a power like my own. The man that I had possessed is no longer of this world."

Chills went up everyone else's backs, and cold sweats went throughout their bodies. "My God..." Zelos said, "What kind of thing can...?" The creature looked at Zelos with what he thought was an anger deeper than anything he'd ever seen before. It extened it's tentacles so that Zelos was pushed back into the opposite wall. It retracted it's tentacles, Zelos still stuck in a hole in the wall, and dashed at the angel. "Damn it!" Zelos shouted, and drew his sword. "Light Spear Cannon!" A large beam of light shot out of his sword once again. It was stronger than before, and the beam was at least five feet wide, tearing up the ground in it's path. The creature dodged it easily, and closed in on Zelos in a blink. It brandished four sharp-tipped tentacles, and stabbed at him. He let out a scream of pain. His hands and feet were impaled, and pinned to the wall behind him.

"I said it once, and I'll say it again..." Two more tentacles came from it's arm as it walked towards Zelos. The other two tentacles went up to Zelos's wings, one tentacle respectively. It put it's free hand on his Cruxis Crystal, "I am the answer..." It grabbed the Cruxis Crystal with it's hand, and his wings with it's tentacles, and tore all of them out.

"GYAAAAAAAA!" Zelos screamed as his crystal was torn out of his chest, and his wings shredded off of his back. His screams shook the walls of the cavern, and tears of blood came from his bloodshot eyes. Blood poured from the two holes on his back and the single hole in his chest. It splattered onto the stone floor and spread into puddles. A few orange feathers floated to the ground, and shriveled into black dust.

"NO!" Lloyd shouted, and flew towards the creature as it threw Zelos to the side. He caught the Chosen, and laid him on the ground. Kratos stood in front of the two of them with his sword in one hand Colette and in the other. The left sleeve of her white outfit had been torn off, and her arm was crushed with streams of blood dripping off of her limp fingers as she hung unconscious.

"Lloyd, take them and leave the mines." Kratos said, his sword drawn.

"But what about you, dad?" Lloyd yelled.

"Don't worry, I don't plan on dieing. I'll just stall him. Now go!"

Lloyd took Colette from him and flung Zelos over his shoulder. He took out his wings and flew out of the cavern.

"And then there was one, as the saying goes," the creature said, "You saw what I am able to do, but I can do much more." It showed Zelos's bloody Cruxis Crystal in it's hand, and took it's key crest off. It held the jewel in it's hand, and it sunk beneath it's skin. "Disappointing... his power wasn't as great as I had thought..."

"Don't you dare mock him. He was a powerful angel worthy of his name." Kratos said, "Yet you underestimate me. I'm different from those three."

"That is what this man, 'Zelos,' thought about himself. I know what he thought prior to the removal of his crystal. I hardly believe that you are much stronger than he is."

"We'll see..." _Hurry, Lloyd! Get them out of here, and I can inflict at least a small amount of damage to this creature as I escape..._ He thought, and held his sword above his head with the blade pointing to the cieling. The black creature dashed towards him, transforming it's arms into black blades like before. Kratos's sword flashed with a white light, and a huge blue magic circle appeared below him.

"What is this?" Dozens of ribbons of light darted throughout the magic circle, striking the creature from all directions.

Kratos jumped into the air and shouted out, "SHINING BIND!" Light magic flooded the area that the magic circle took up, and shot into the air, pummeling the creature with pure power.

Lloyd, who just got outside with Zelos and Colette in tow, saw Shining Bind break through the cieling of the mine as a huge pillar of light. "What the--? Is that Shining Bind?" Lloyd said to himself. "I thought that he was only going to stall it!"

Back in the mine, the magic was still pounding the creature as Kratos darted out of the cavern at top speed. A large hole in the cieling of the cavern shed moonlight on the creature's mangled body. It barely resembled a human anymore-- it didn't even have identifyable limbs anymore. It was merely a mass of mangled marble-like skin shining rainbow lights from inside. It began to mold back into a form that of a man, it's skin regenerating at astounding speed.

It's head regenerated and it said, "Well now, it seems that this virus called 'human' has more power than I thought..." It observed it's body to see if anything had regenerated improperly. Suddenly, it noticed a chunk of "flesh" had been taken out of it's left shoulder. "Indeed, that one _is_ different. To be able to completely destroy a part of my body is a great feet indeed... The attack was so powerful that I had to concentrate on regeneration and defense rather than absorb more power... I'll enjoy killing him."

The two conscious angels flew across the ocean as quickly as possible towards the island resort. Colette was still bleeding heavily from her arm, yet not as much as before. Zelos's bleeding, however, hadn't stopped at all. Lloyd had ripped off a strip of clothing and wrapped it around all three wounds to help, but it wasn't doing much at all. They were hardly halfway to Altamira when the sun rose above the horizon. The two that Lloyd was holding were slowing him down considerably.

"We have to hurry!" Lloyd shouted.

"I'll go ahead and inform the other," Kratos said, "If they know that you're coming with two wounded people in tow, then Raine could get ready sooner rather thanlater."

"Okay, go!" Lloyd yelled, and his father shot like a comet ahead of him. Lloyd could only hope that he would get his friends there in time.

* * *

**A/N:** Hey, everyone! Behold! The first chapter of this fic composed entirely of violence! 

Zelos: You bastard! (comes walking in using crutches, and has bandages all over him) I could die in the next chapter for all I know!

Me: And that's the beauty of it! You _can't_ know until you read the next chapter! That's what I love about writing!

Zelos: I'll kill you before you finish the next chapter! (makes a stab at me)

Me: (dodges it and flicks him in the back)

Zelos: OW OW OW OW OW OW OW OW!

Me: Don't mess with the writer!

Zelos: Yes, sir! I'll be good! (trembles)

Me: Now, then-- (gets kicked in the head by Celcius)

Celcius: What the hell! You said last chapter that I'd be in this one!

Me: Well, I changed my mind, and the storyline recieved it's new arch without you! (Gets pummeled and stomped on by Celcius)

Ivan: Now, before he gets hurt even more. (Ahem) I hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter. Reviewers are greatly appreciated, and critiques are appreciated even more. We'll see you in chapter 10: "Demotion and Devotion"

Until next time!

**King Kamor (and Ivan Kessak**!)


	10. Demotion and Devotion

A/N: Hey, everyone! So, how about that last chapter, huh? Yep. Lotsa fun. Zelos getting the living crap beaten out of him, Kratos using Shining Bind... Yep! Fun stuff! 

... Okay, okay, I'll get on with the little beginning part!

Me: Thank you for liking the previous chapter! I had a lot of fun writing the fighting scene, since those are my specialty!

Zelos: (beats me with a crutch) "Specialty" my ass! My specialty now is kicking the shit out of you!

Me: Ivan! sik-em!

Ivan: Yes sir! (blasts Zelos into the wall with a wave of magic)

Zelos: (cries) I'm so tragic...

Raine OOOOOOOH! Was that magic without a magic circle? (pokes Ivan's arms)

Ivan: Uhm, in my world, we don't need magic circles; everyone is born with a specific kind of magic that is reliant on family lineage.

Raine: Ohhhhh! I must study this world of yours! Take me there!

Me: Now, before Ivan gets over-examined. Disclaimer: I don't own anything in the Tales of Symphonia game, Namco does.

Ivan: Read about me at fiction press!

Me: In this chapter, it's pretty much about everyone talking about what had happened in the mines. Now, on with it!

* * *

**Chapter 10: Demotion and Devotion**

"Zelos! Zelos!" Raine shouted through her tears at the sight of the unconscious Chosen, who was bleeding on the floor of her balcony. Kratos had flown into her room through her balcony and woke her up just as the sun arose above the horizon. She immediately put on her normal clothes and readied her staff. She began to break down in tears when she saw Zelos. She now held her staff above him, shouting, "HEAL! HEAL!" Magic circles began to rapidly appear below Zelos, one after the other. To her dismay, her power did very little due to the fact that he didn't have his Cruxis Crystal anymore. Her tears dripped onto Zelos' chest, looking like specks of dust on a red sheet in comparison to the blood.

"Raine! Calm down! You'll run out of mana if you don't stop!" Lloyd shouted.

"I don't care!" She shouted, shooting a glare at Lloyd. She turned back to Zelos and shouted, "Resurrection!" A more-intricate circle appeared beneath Zelos, and a veil of feathers appeared above him. "Zelos, if you die, you're really going to get it!" She said through clenched teeth as the feathers of healing magic disappeared. Raine's vision began to become blurry, and her grip on her staff began to weaken. She fell, almost in slow motion, to the floor next to Zelos.

Zelos opened his eyes a little, and looked over at Raine. "Well, I guess that I won't get beaten up this time, will I?" He said weakly. He looked up at Lloyd and Kratos and said, "Sorry... I messed up big time, didn't I...?"

"Try not to talk," Kratos said, picking up Raine and laying her in a chair right next to Zelos, then laid the unconscious Colette down next to the other Chosen. "Don't move, Zelos... Healing Stream..." A watery magic circle appeared underneath Zelos, and washed away all of the blood on the floor, as well as any dirt that may have gotten in any of Zelos' wounds. The wounds themselves weren't healed, however. "Lloyd, go get Sheena. I have an idea."

"Okay, dad," Lloyd said, and sped out of the room and down the hall, his shoulder hitting the doorframe on the way out with a grunt of pain. His footsteps were light on the floor as he dashed to the summoner's room. He was about to open the door when he suddenly remembered that he had knocked Sheena out last night with a gut-wrencher. Boy, am I gonna get it... He thought, and opened the door to Sheena's room. He peeked inside, and noticed that nobody seemed to be home. "What the?" He fully opened the door and called Sheena's name. "Where is she?" Before he knew it, Sheena's hand had slapped him across the right side of his face. She had come out from behind the opened door.

"Lloyd!" She shouted in anger.

"I'm sorry that I hit you last night, Sheena! I'm sorry!" Lloyd said with his hands together in apology.

Sheena was about to slap him again when she said, "Lloyd… you don't get it, do you…?" She lowered her hand and slumped to the floor. Lloyd looked at her with confusion. "It's not the fact that you hit me… It's that you wouldn't let me help you!"

"What?" Lloyd had just noticed that she was crying-- probably the entire time.

She sniffled. "Lloyd, you always take things upon yourself… You never let me help you! You're going to get killed one of these days! And I won't be there to die with you…"

At the word "die," Lloyd remembered his initial objective. "Sheena, I need to take you to Raine's room."

"What? Why?" She asked as she wiped away her tears.

"Kratos will explain when we get there. It's about Zelos and Colette."

"What happened?"

"Just come with me." Lloyd explained all that had happened as they sped down the hallway. After awhile, they finally reached Raines room. They quickly walked in.

"Oh my god!" Sheena yelled once she laid eyes on Zelos, Colette, and Raine. Kratos had already fully healed Colette with Healing Stream, and he held Zelos in a sitting up position. He had his hand on the Chosen's back with his hand over the two wounds, trying to keep the blood in by constantly casting First Aid. Zelos' face was as white as a sheet, and he was unconscious again.

Kratos heard her and looked up at her. "Hurry and summon Maxwell, Sheena. Use his power over molecules to close up Zelos' wounds and give him more blood! His heart is beating slowly, and his breathing is getting shallower by the second!"

Without any hesitation, Sheena shouted, "I summon thee... Maxwell!" The old-manlike summon spirit appeared in a flash of white light in the room.

"What do you want, pact-maker? I was in the middle of a nap," Maxwell said with a carefree tone, stretching out his arms and yawning.

Sheena then said very calmly, "I need you to repair the flesh of the wounds that the former Chosen of Tethe' Alla has, and restore his blood to it's original amount."

Maxwell looked at her for a few seconds and said, "Of course..." He raised his staff and opened his spellbook, and a cloud of red appeared above Zelos. Kratos let go of him and stepped back. Zelos has held in the air via air displacement by Maxwell, and the red cloud swirled down and into Zelos' body through his wounds. After the last of the red cloud disappeared into Zelos, his wounds began to regenerate. Muscle tissue was woven together, the veins darting across them, and new skin blanketed the wounds. Then, a swirl of soft light encircled him, repairing the damage done to his hands and feet where they were stabbed. The Chosen lightly fell to the floor. There were a few seconds of silence... Nobody knew if it had worked or if they were too late... Zelos suddenly took a deep breath that filled the onlookers with relief.

Maxwell grumbled, "There, he is healed. However, there will be scars on his hands and feet."

"How come?" Lloyd said, "You're a summon spirit! I thought that summon sprits can do whatever they want?"

"Maybe if he had been wounded by something else, then I could do it in a snap... But those wounds were inflicted by a creature that I haven't seen in a very long time... I've never been able to manipulate the molecules of the things it's touched. At least not very well."

"You mean you've seen it before?" Lloyd and Kratos yelled.

"Yes. Well, at least one that was created before this one. I was able to defeat it with ease, but this one seems much stronger. Luckily, the wounds themselves on his chest and back weren't touched by this creature, only the parts that were torn off of him. So the wounds on his chest and back have healed just fine. Since his hands and feet were in direct contact with this creature, it will leave scars on them."

"Maxwell," Sheena asked, "Why is it that this creature's touch disrupts your powers?"

"Not just mine, I'd wager that any summon spirit would have trouble." Maxwell replied. "It is due to the vast amounts of unstable mana emanating from it's body. Since it is basically one thousand expheres condensed into one being, it lacks the one thing that can keep that unstable mana in check-- a key crest."

"I think that I get it..." Lloyd said, scratching his chin. "So all we have to do is put a key crest on it, and it'll be beaten?"

"I doubt that," Kratos said with his arms crossed, "It took Zelos' key crest off of his Cruxis Crystal and then absorbed the crystal into it's body. The key crest didn't seem to have any effect at all."

"Damn it..." Lloyd said in frustration.

"I'm sorry that I cannot help you much further in advice, but I still have a word or two," Maxwell said, "I defeated this creature's predecesor through shear magical power, so that may be the answer to defeating this one."

"Well, Kratos already used Shining Bind on it, so that should have killed it, right?" Lloyd said hopefully, looking towards his father.

"Highly unlikely... but it may be possible if everyone were to attack it at once, or if someone were to attack it constantly with powerful spells..."

"But that'll put everyone in danger, wouldn't it...?" Lloyd looked down at Zelos.

Zelos opened his left eye slightly, and looked about the room wearily. He saw the relief on his friends' faces and smiled a little. "Well, I guess that I haven't died yet, huh?"

* * *

**Later that day:**

Zelos awoke with a start in his white-sheeted bed as sunlight filled his room. (His room is on the other side of the hall from Raine's so the sun is further along in the sky than before.) His hair was strewn out over his pillow, and his left hand was resting near his head. His headband, gloves were on the bedside table, and his shoes placed neatly next to it. His sword was propped against the wall next to the bed. He sat up in his bed and remembered what had happened. He remembered every last detail of the pain, so much that his skin crawled. He reached onto his back and felt his skin through the torn fabric of his clothes… _They're gone_…he thought. …_They're really gone_… Tears began to well up in his eyes, but his face didn't wrinkle in sadness at all. He then felt his chest where his crystal used to be… nothing was there.

He got out of bed and put on his shoes, though not without pain. Then, he noticed his hands. They had ragged scars. _How did these get here?_ He looked over at his sword and walked over to it. As he reached for it's hilt, he thought, _Please, just let me still be able to-- _When he tried to grasp the hilt, it slipped out of his hand and fell to the floor with a clatter. After a few more tries, he realized that his hand no longer had the capacity to fully close into a fist. He gazed at his hands for what seemed like forever as even more tears welled up in his eyes. He buried his face into his hands, his fingers running inbetween locks of his hair.

Raine could hear his cries of sadness from her bed where she laid awake. She threw off the sheets, walked out her bedroom door, and headed across the hall to Zelos' room. His cries could still be heard through his door. The only thing that she could hear above that were the sounds of shattering vases, breaking wood, and the banging of fists against the wall. She didn't know if she should go in to stop him, or let him be in his sadness. At that moment, all Raine could do was cry, and she leaned against the door looking up as if to scorn whatever gods let this happen to him.

After a few minutes, the sounds from inside the room stopped. Raine had since curled into a ball in which she was hugging her legs. When the noise ceased, she stood up and reached for the door handle. After a few moments of hesitation, she turned it and entered Zelos' room. The first thing she saw was how wrecked the room was. Vases had been broken, the chairs thrown in different directions, curtains torn from the windows, and splintered wood of tables covered the floor. The only thing that she didn't see was Zelos.

"Zelos…?" Raine said weakly. She stepped over the destruction and looked about the room for him. She walked past his bed and found his laying on his back, looking at the ceiling. "Zelos…"

He turned his empty gaze towards Raine, but said nothing.

"Please, Zelos, say something…" He stayed silent, "Please…I don't want to see you like this…"

Zelos stared at her before saying, "Neither do I… But… here I am…"

Raine walked over to him and laid down next to the Chosen. "Zelos… You may have lost something… but at least you didn't die… right?"

Zelos looked back up at the ceiling, "My powers were a part of me… They were what set me apart from other people in friendships, as well as in the battlefield. Now… I can't even help my friends when they are in danger… I'm so useless… Maybe Mithos was right. Maybe I am a useless Chosen?"

Raine was shocked at his words. She grabbed his arm and buried her face into his shoulder. "Zelos, you are more than that… Just because you lost your powers doesn't mean that you are someone else."

"…Yes it does… I was someone that protected people. Now I'm back to being a lazy good-for-nothing. I'm demoted."

"No you aren't, you idiot!" Raine shouted, bringing her face up from Zelos' shoulder, showing the tears that she was shedding. "No matter what you have or don't have, you are still you! And I won't think higher or lesser of you if you have your powers or not!"

"Raine…"

"Shut up!" She began to beat his shoulder with her fists, "Just… shut up…!"

Zelos gently grasped her hand, and she stopped. When he looked into her eyes, she lunged at him and hugged him tightly around the neck. Her sobbing was heard clearly in Zelos' ears. "How weird… that I'm the one who gets hurt… but you're the one crying… It almost makes my day… humorous…"

"Zelos…" Raine said between sobs.

"Heh… I can't lift my sword anymore… I can't even walk properly… Was it that thing's intent to make it so that I could never be able to fight again…?"

Raine lifted her head and looked at Zelos, "Let's not talk about that right now, okay?" She smiled a little.

Zelos smiled a little as well, and wrapped an arm around Raine's waist, "So what do you want to talk about?" He said with his usual sly smile.

* * *

**Next Door:**

"Lloyd, do you think that Zelos is okay?" Sheena asked, sitting at the breakfast table in Lloyd's room. She still had her hair down, and wore her pajamas from the night before, even though it was already the afternoon.

"He'll be okay," Lloyd replied, leaning against the wall opposite of Sheena. He still wore the red shirt that he wore durring the battle the night before. "Have you ever seen Zelos sulk over anything?"

"That's the problem, Lloyd, he's not just sulking, he was going mad just a few minutes ago, in case you didn't hear the bookcase crashing into the wall!"

"You thought that he was mad when he 'betrayed' us at the Tower of Salvation, right? After awhile, he came back to us, didn't he?"

"That may be so, but this isn't some sort of act. He has really lost something valuable. Can you even imagine losing your angelic powers?"

Lloyd looked at her with surprise, "Well, you have me there... But I'll have to destroy my exphere eventually, and I have to accept that."

Sheena groaned, "It's impossible to get through to you, you know that?"

"Is that a problem?" Lloyd said jokingly.

"Yes, Lloyd, it is... Whenever I can't get through to you, you just get yourself hurt." She said bluntly.

"So? At least I'm not getting killed, right?"

Sheena abruptly stood up from her chair and trudged towards Lloyd. She looked at him with a half-sad half-angery expression. "You almost did this time..." She bent gently wrapped her arms around Lloyd's neck.

He put his arms around Sheena's waist and said, "I'm sorry, Sheena... I'll be more careful."

"Idiot!" Sheena yelled, burying her face in Lloyd's chest.

"Don't worry, Sheena, I'll never leave you again. I make a vow to that"

* * *

**Meanwhile:**

"Kratos, what happened in the mines?" Regal asked. The two of them were talking in the ground-floor lobby of the resort.

"I thought that you would have figured it out by now," Kratos said with his arms crossed, "The four of us tried to defeat the creature in the mines. However, Zelos had his Cruxis Crystal and wings torn off, and Colette was almost crushed by a boulder. They are lucky to be alive right now."

"I know, but how did it get so powerful over such a short amount of time? Even Ace managed to keep it at bay! I never would have imagined that it would be able to deal such a blow to an angel, let alone four!"

"I'd suspect that every time it gets injured and regenerates, it draws upon an increasing percentage of the expheres in which it is composed of. Every time one of us injured it, a bright light would shine from within it's wound, and that light would be the material used to regenerate it. I would guess that that light is pure mana coming from the expheres. All of the expheres must have been somehow melted into one giant exphere."

Regal put a hand on his chin in thought, "And if Maxwell had already fought something like it, then how did that one get created?"

"It's anyone's guess at this point. All we know is that the one that we're dealing with is far more powerful than the one he fought. We must treat it as an enemy that has more power than that of a summon spirit."

"Sheena should ask the other summon spirits for advice and assisstance on defeating the creature when the rest of us go there."

"Do you mean to tell me that the rest of you will come as well? Even Genis and Presea? I'd understand if it were Lloyd, Colette, or Sheena, but those two aren't even adults yet. I refuse to let them throw their lives away."

"You underestimate them, Kratos. Presea may look young, but she is actually twenty-eight, and possably even stronger than you. And Genis is wise far beyond his years, as well as mine, and his magic skills are second to none. Their abilities were able to help defeat Mithos, weren't they?"

"And yet it was Lloyd who delivered the finishing blow, wasn't it?"

"The Falcon's Crest alone wouldn't have done it. If not for Genis and Presea, the rest of us would have had a much harder time. Your Shining Bind, which is about as powerful as Falcon's Crest, wasn't able to defeat the creature. So, if you had Genis and Presea and the rest of us to back you up, then it would be so much easier, wouldn't you say?"

"I don't care what you say, I'm still going to go back to the mines before the day is through."

Regal put his left hand on his forehead, "Are you blind to the fact that if it regenerated after you used Shining Bind on it, then it would have becme much more powerful?"

"It's but a triffling amount added to it's power each time. I'll be fine."

"Isn't it's increases in power proportionate to the extent of the damage it takes?"

"I'll only say it one more time, Regal. I'll leave for the mines before sundown. There's nothing that you can say that could stop me. You don't even have the power to stop me even if you wanted to." He stared at Regal coldly.

"Why are you so determined to defeat that creature by yourself? You know that you can't defeat it without our help!"

Kratos looked at Regal with anger, "It hurt Lloyd... it hurt my son... That's reason enough to wipe it off of the face of this planet."

"If you love your son so much, then don't sadden him by throwing your life away!"

Kratos was silent for a few moments before saying, "Fine, I'll fight alongside everyone else, Regal. Just name the date, and I'll be there."

"Thank you, Kratos." Regal let out a sigh of releif. "Can you at least a wait a week? I need to prepare a few things for the upcoming battle."

"I told you to name the date. A week is fine."

On the other side of the lobby, the elevator's doors opened up, and Ace walked out of it towards the other two men. He still wore his mining clothes. "Master Regal..."

"Ace, you're finally awake. What is it?" Regal asked.

"You and yor companions plan on defeating that creature, correct?"

"Yes, that's correct. But I won't let you take part in the battle yet."

"Why not, sir? I've trained with the same master as you! I'm more than willing to give my life in this battle!"

Regal chuckled. "I said 'yet,' Ace."

The young man looked up at Regal with a confused look.

"I'm going to instruct you on the most powerful tecknique in our style: The Garen Zesshuugeki."

Aces eyes lit up in amazement. "Y-you're going to teach it to me, sir?"

"Yes, but there is a catch: you have to finish the training for it in one week or less. That means devoting all of your time and energy to learning it."

"Yes, sir!"

"I'll teach it to you just how our master taught me. That means a strict exercise schedule of three hours, at least two hours a day of drills, and another two hours of the Garen Zesshuugeki form."

"What are you trying to do, Regal?" Kratos asked

"Ah, yes, I'll explain, Kratos. You and I are most likely the most-experienced fighters, correct? Then I suggest that you and I instruct the less-experienced of the group on how to fight more effectively."

Kratos let out a sigh. "So that's what you were planning... It isn't much, but I guess that it's better than nothing"

* * *

**A/N:** Hey, all! Woo-hoo! Longest chapter yet! I decided to take a break from violence and go back to the fluff for a bit. The next three chapters will each focus on the three main couples: Lloyd and Sheena, Zelos and Raine, and Kate and Pietro. So, for those of you who love fluff, I'll give ya three more chapters of it! 

Celcius: I feel so unloved... ten chapters, and not one appearance...(cries)

Undine: There, there, Celcius.

Me: Sorry, Cel, but whenever I try to think about a scene with you that'll go along with the story, I draw a blank.

Zelos: So, Jon, buddy ol' pal... Do I get to do some juicy stuff with Raine?

Me: Well, anything that the "T" rating will allow.

Zelos: Now that I'm all weak and defenseless, I can take advantage of her! It's what I do, dude! Come one!

Raine: What was that...? (Grabs Zelos shoulder)

Zelos: eep!

Me: Now, before I break my promise for less violence and more fluff, I'll just say that the next chapters will contain a lot of romance and stuff. So, look forward to it in the next chapter!

**King Kamor**


	11. Back to the Old Days

**A/N:** I rather liked writing the last chapter. I hope that you guys liked it as well. (review more, please!) There was a bit of fluff, a bit of destruction, and a little scheming on Regal's part. As I said last chapter, the next three will be about the week of preparation for the battle in the mines. I hope that you enjoy it.

(On another note, my fanname at Fanime just so happened to be "Ace.")

Lloyd: I thought that you were going to cosplay as _me_ at Fanime! Not your Gaia Online avatar!

Me: Well, my hair wasn't long enough, and I didn't have enough gel to have it stand up like yours, anyway.

Lloyd: Waaaah! You can have short hair to be me! And how could you not have enough apple gels? You always had at least twenty when you played the game! (runs off crying)

Me: ...He really is a dumbass...

Raine: (in a sexy voice) Oh, Zelos... I love you...

Zelos: (in a sexy voice) I've always loved you, Raine.

Raine: Zelos... kiss me... AAARRGH! I can't do this! (tosses her lines into the air) Jon! Change the script! NOW!

Zelos: Oh, come on! It was just getting to the good part! (gets slapped)

Me: Oh, fine, I'll take out those lines and put in some better ones. (Rewrites the script)

Raine: (looks over my shoulder) Oh my _God_! I'll never do that with Zelos! I can't stand you guys anymore! I'll be in my trailer!

Zelos: Oh, come on, Raine! It couldn't be _that_ bad! (looks at the script) ...Well, now... (whispers) _Can you make me a copy of this?_

Me: _Sure, for a thousand gald a page._

Zelos: _Sweet._

Me: The least I can do to convince her to stay in this fic is to put all of the Zelaine stuff in the next chapter rather than this one, and let her beat me once a day... Anyway, read the chapter, have a few laughs, and review!

Disclaimer: I own NOTHING pertaining to the game Tales of Symphonia (also know as ToS, or Terms of Service P).

Now, on with it!

* * *

**Chapter 11: Back to the Old Days  
**

It had already been almost an entire day since Lloyd and the others went off to the mines. Lloyd was still in Sheena's room. While he and Sheena talked, Lloyd had taken off his boots and gloves, and tore off both sleeves of his red shirt, since one was already torn. "Lloyd..." Sheena muttered in her sleep. She had apparently fallen into a slumber next to him on the couch after they had finished talking. The poor girl had awoken from her sleep about an hour after Lloyd had left for the mines last night, and stayed up all night worrying about him. She didn't get so much as a wink of shut-eye. Lloyd was sitting on the end of the couch with her leaning against his shoulder, asleep. She had her legs tucked in close to her chest. They had already stayed like that for at least fifteen minutes.

"Geez, it's almost like a cat fell asleep on my lap," Lloyd said quietly to himself. "I want to leave, but I don't want to wake her up..." Suddenly, Sheena pushed against him, and put her arms around his neck. Lloyd looked at her in surprise as she muttered his name yet again. "Well... I guess not..." He put an arm around her shoulders and held her closer. Sheena seemed to react quite fondly to this with a smile. "You're not really asleep, are you?"

Sheena opened one eye and looked up at him, "Looks like I was found out..." She said seductively.

"You could have just asked, you know," Lloyd said with a smile, and pulled her closer. Sheena smiled, and cuddled closer to him like a cat. Lloyd could just picture her with cat ears and a tail.

"You know, we almost never get the chance to be alone like this..." Sheena said as she twirled a lock of Lloyd's hair.

"I know, but we always get interrupted, don't we? I mean, what was with our luck the first few chapters?"

"Hm?"

"Nothing! Anyway, someone'll just come barging in if we try to get closer."

Sheena smiled slyly, "...I locked to door, Lloyd..."

Lloyd's face turned a deep red, "W-well, if you want to be alone with me, th-then I guess that that's okay. I mean, we _are_ a couple and everything now, right? And couples always tend to--" Before he could finish, Sheena had pulled his face to hers and kissed him. They kissed passionately for at least a minute, and Lloyd didn't complain. Sheena pushed him back with the kiss so that he was laying down on the couch with her on top of him. She wrapped her arms around his neck, tightly pressing her lips against his. He put his arms around her waist, and massaged up and down her back with his hands. Sheena closed her eyes and rustled the back of Lloyd's hair with her hands. They cuddled closer to eachother, Sheena wrapped her legs around one of Lloyd's, and he massaged her lower back. After a few minutes at least, they broke the kiss.

"Lloyd..." She said, staring into his eyes. He did the same, thinking, _Wow... Zelos didn't flirt with her for nothing!_ They hugged eachother tightly, and kissed every so often.

"This is really nice..." Lloyd said as Sheena laid her head down on his chest, her arms still around her neck. "When was the last time that we've been able to do this...?"

Sheena began to count in her head, "Thirty six days and six hours!" She said happily.

"You were counting, huh?"

"What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing... I counted thirty six days and _five_hours and..." He looked at the clock up on the wall, "Fifty three minutes." They laughed, and looked into eachothers' eyes as a prelude to another kiss. They continued to kiss eachother with increasing ferocity, and Sheena pressed her body against Lloyd even harder. Lloyd, almost out of instinct, reached up and pulled open one of the buttons to Sheena's pajama top. She gasped in surprise, and looked at him with a smile. Lloyd's face couldn't have been more red than it was then. _Crap crap crap crap crap crap! Did I do something wrong?_ He thought frantically.

"Maybe another time, Lloyd..." Sheena said, and kissed him again.

Zelos took a step into the room, saw them, and stepped out right after.

...Wow...

... How could one single instant be _that_ embarrassing?

"I thought that you locked the door!" Lloyd yelled, but not loud enough for Zelos to hear.

"I thought that I did, too!" Sheena replied embarrassingly.

"You should have checked!"

"I _did_! I swear that I did!"

"Well, you should have checked harder!"

"How the hell do you check _harder_? You either check it or you don't check!"

Outside the door, Zelos was leaning against the door, smiling at Raine. "So," Raine asked, "Are they ready?"

"Not yet, Raine," Zelos said, "They're a bit busy." He casually put an arm around her.

"Want to get something to eat?" Raine asked.

"Sure! Let's go to Regal's restaurant! I heard that there's supposed to be an all-you-can-eat buffet right now!"

"Sounds good." They walked down the stairs as Lloyd and Sheena continued to argue.

* * *

**Later that night:**

Everyone had gathered at the large center dinner table in Regal's restaurant for what he called a "meeting." All of them had grouped at the now-empty restaurant, including George, Ace, Kate, Pietro, and Chocolat. Lloyd and Sheena were found in Lloyd's room, still arguing since Martel-knows-how-long. Raine and Zelos were already at the restaurant when Regal had asked them to join in the meeting. Presea and Genis were up on the sky terrace of the Lezareno company. Colette was with a small group of dogs somewhere on the beach. Regal gathered everyone right after he had finished a meeting at the Lezareno company, so he was still wearing his business suit. He stood at the end of the table, standing from his chair. He had a serious look on his face.

"Everyone," Regal began, "I'm sure that you all have heard of what had happened at the mines last night." Everyone nodded rather solemnly at the bringing-up of the incident. "Rest assured, everyone is alive and well, even though one of us has lost most of his ability to fight." Zelos looked at the floor sadly, and Raine put a hand on his shoulder for comfort. "Regardless, from what Kratos has told me, this creature seems to be seeking those that abuse the powers of expheres." Everyone in the room except for Lloyd, Zelos, Colette, and Kratos started to chatter amongst themselves, causing a slight roar about the area. Regal continued, "Our next-- and last-- battle with this creature will be in one week. I'm sorry to ruin the first part of our vacation, but I believe that nobody would object to the fact that the safety of this world comes before our own comfort... The reason that we won't go and fight it for one week is because I think that it would be advantageous if those of us willing to fight would train throughout the coming week. Just like the old days durring the battle against Mithos..." All of the fighters sat in their chairs with determination in their faces. "Gain strength, learn new magic,and live. If anyone dies, then everyone else won't enjoy the trip now, would they?"

Everyone agreed, and began to eat their dinner.

Sheena then said to Lloyd, "Hey, how do you plan on defeating this creature, Lloyd?"

"I'll cut it down with everything that I've got!" Lloyd yelled with a mouthfull of food, some of it spraying on the table.

"Yeah! Let's both do our best, Lloyd!" Sheena yelled, clenching her fist in determination. Lloyd let out another cheer, and thrust his fist into the air.

Pietro, Kate, and Chocolat stared at them from the other side of the table. "I guess that we have no choice but to stay here until they're all done with this, huh?" Chocolat said sadly.

"It seems that way..." Pietro said with equal sadness. He peered over at Kate and saw her with her hand on her chin in her usual deep-in-thought pose. "What's wrong?"

Kate looked up at him and said, "Zelos hasn't necessarily lost _all_ of his powers..."

"Really?" Pietro said in surprise.

"How so?" Chocolat asked.

"Well, if we simply place another Cruxis Crystal on him, then he should gain his strength again." Kate said, looking down at the table in thought.

Zelos managed to overhear this, and mad-dashed around the table over to Kate, leaving a trail of dust behind him. "There's a way to get my powers back?" He yelled.

Kate looked at him in surprise, "Well, yes."

"I just need another Cruxis Crystal, right?"

"Technically, yes... But there's the problem of obtaining one, getting a proper key crest, and putting you into enough danger to fully awaken the wings and angelic spells... and the application of the crystal itself is risky enough. To top it all off, it seems that most Cruxis Crystal experiments outside of Welgaia were complete failures ending in the death of the subject. Presea is the only one to survive that I'm aware of, and she still can't use angelic spells like you did."

Zelos' enthusiasm diminished, and he slumped to the floor on his knees. He then said very quietly, "... care..."

"What was that, Zelos?" Kate asked, leaning in closer to him.

"I DON'T CARE!" He shouted so loud that Kate nearly fell over in her chair. "I don't care if it's risky! Going out to defeat Mithos was dangerous enough! Do you think that a little experiment or even _ten_ of them can scare me?"

Kate recovered from his outburst, and sat silently in her chair for a few moments. "...Okay, I can see that you want to do this regardless of the outcome... I'll help you."

* * *

**Later outside the entrance to Altamira:**

"Try it again, Ace. This time with more force!" Regal instructed as Ace stood in front of a thick log that was standing up on one end. After Ace was hired to overlook the destruction of the mines, he continued to practice on the log so as not to get rusty. The bark that was around the middle of the log was gone, and the wood underneath was full of dents. Next to it was another log that was taller and thicker, but it was brand new from the nearby woods on the island. Regal placed it there before the training session. The trees that the logs had come from had the hardest wood out of any tree in the world. It took ten days and ten broken axes to cut down Ace's, and another ten to cut down the one for Regal. It goes without saying that it would hurt like hell to hit these things.

Ace did as he was told, and concentrated chi into his left hand. It began to glow with a golden light, and he hurled his fist at the log as hard as he could. Regal smirked as another layer of wood collapsed under the force of the blow. Ace's hand lingered on the small crater in the wood, and then fell back to his side weakly.

"I'm sorry, Master Regal," Ace said regretfully, "I'm still not putting in the correct amount of power, am I?"

"Maybe not," Regal said as he walked up to his 'apprentice.' "But I suppose that merely telling you to focus your chi into a limb wasn't enough. It's always better to see something before trying it, wouldn't you agree?"

"I suppose, sir."

Regal smiled and took off his tie and black jacket. He also unbuttoned the top button of his white shirt.

"Sir, don't you need your greaves if you're going to show me?"

Regal laughed. "I suppose I really haven't told you the true power of Garen Zesshuugeki, have I?" He stood in front of the larger log. He closed his eyes, and an aura of golden chi appeared around him as if it were smoke. He lifted his arms into a guard, and went into his fighting stance. Suddenly, a wave of energy shot through the ground from his feet, which hit the log. He dashed at the log, still enveloped in the aura, and began to relentlessly beat upon the log with kicks and punches. Each hit made a crater in the wood that was three times as wide at the one that Ace made in the other log, and Ace could hardly keep track of Regal's arms and legs at such high speeds. Regal then crouched down, and kicked the log straight up into the air. He pushed off of the ground with his other leg, which cracked the ground with the force of it. "Garen..." he kicked the log upwards a second time, and then a third time with a backflip kick. Regal went higher than the log as it began to fall back to earth. He suddenly shined brightly with power, and shot down at the log like a comet. "ZESSHUUGEKI!" He shouted as he went straight down on the log with his leg exteneded downwards. He slammed the log into the ground, and a shockwave went out from the impact. The very earth collapsed into a twenty-foot wide crater from the force of it. Ace covered his head with his arms as pieces of the log flew everywhere.

The dust began to clear away, and there was a long string of silence. "Sir...?" Ace said nervously.

Regal calmly walked out of the crater, and kicked the dirt off of his shoes by tapping them against the ground. He smirked and said, "The amount of power that I, myself, can bring out with Garen Zesshuugeki is about twice that of what you just saw." All of the dust cleared away, and Ace could clearly see inside of the crater... Well, let's just say that the log had turned into mulch...

"Care to try it on your log?" Regal asked carefreely as he pointed at the other log.

Ace put up his hands defensively and said, "I think that I'm done for the day, sir."

"What, you mean after hitting the log a few times, you're just going to quit? No apprentice of mine is going to be so lazy. Didn't you say that you were ready to face the training sessions?"

Ace sighed deeply, "Yes, sir..."

"Good, now focus your chi again!"

* * *

**Meanwhile:**

Colette was hovering above the woods with Kratos. He had asked to meet her there, but he didn't tell her why. She was wearing her normal Chosen clothes, but minus the shoulder things, which made it look like a normal one-piece dress. In her hands were her white chackram, which he also told her to bring.

Kratos spoke first, "Colette, I admit that you faught fairly well back in the mines..."

His words brought a smile to Colette's face.

"However... You aren't nearly as skilled as Lloyd, Zelos, and certainly not me."

Her smile turned into a sad frown. "I tried my best, Kratos. That creature was just too strong. I'll do better next time, though!"

"I'm aware of that, Colette. You've always been optimistic, and it has helped the group many times in terms of morale. And 'your best' had been enough in the past... But now, your best isn't good enough. Simply saying that you will do better next time isn't good enough. Saying that is was too strong won't cut it in our current situation."

She frowned again, and looked sadly at the trees below. "I'm sorry... I'm just a burden, aren't I?"

"No." Kratos said, which made her look up at him again. "Aren't you aware yet that 'your best' can always be transformed into 'better' through training? That's what I taught Mithos, and his level of power was the outcome. I'll train you until the date of the battle is upon us."

"You will?" Colette yelled happily as Kratos nodded his head. She lunged at him and wrapped her arms around his waist and swung around. "Thank you, Kratos! Thank you!"

"Gah! Let go of me! I'm not your father!"

Colette laughed happily. She apparently didn't know the horrors that Lloyd went through when he trained under Kratos...

* * *

**A/N:** Woo! Another chapter! This one was really fun to write. I had to watch Regal's Garen Zesshuugeki at least three times on youtube to get the description, for the most part, right. The romance scene between Sheena and Lloyd was actually the very first romantic scene I've done in a fic. (could you tell?) Comment if I did well or not. I like that I was able to write another 1500 words in this chapter in only one hour! (my hands hurt, though!) 

Lloyd: I liked that scene!

Sheena: I kind of liked it, too. We're so sexy together! Jon, you should write another scene like that between us in the next chapter! Only a more steamy one, if you know what I mean. (nudgenudgewinkwink)

Me: Sorry, no can do.

Both: Why not?

Me: I feel obligated to stay within the restrictions of the rating system, and I have already planned to have Zelaine stuff in the next chapter. You guys may make an appearance or two, and probably a short comical conversation, but nothing too fancy.

Lloyd: Prick

Sheena: Ass hole.

Me: Look, you guys can just makeout on your own time, 'kay?

Sheena: Hey, he's right! (Grabs Lloyd's hand and takes him off the set)

Me: Ah, youth.

Regal: They're older than you, you know.

Me: The game only came out a few years ago, pal. I'm older than when their very _concepts_ were thought up! Yours too! Ha!

Regal: Dang... (the shame of defeat)

Celcius: (cries in a corner)

Me: Ok, _fine_, I'll put you in the next chapter for sure this time, Cel.

Celcius: YAY! (glomps)

Ivan: Hey, pal, you'd better get your ass in gear and get the better version of my story back up!

Me: I have finals this week, you bastard! Lay off! (still on the ground being hugged by Celcius) Anyway, I hope that you guys liked this chapter. Be sure to read the next chapter for Zelaine fluff and more training and the like. Until next time!

**King Kamor **


	12. The Third Day: Part One

A/N: Sweet! Now for the big one-two chapter! Woo hoo! I had finals after the last chapter was put up, sooo... yeah. I hope that you guys liked the last chapter as much as I did.

Celcius: (primping herself in a mirror)

Me: What're you doing?

Celcius: Getting ready for my debut performance, of course!

Me: I didn't know that summon spirits cared about their looks. Besides, can't you just change your appearance without the help up makeup?

Celcius: ...

Me: Cel?

Celcius: Just shut up.

Me: 'Kay. Anyway, this chapter contains something that isn't really a pairing moment of Zelaine. It's more like what's happening while they're together. I hope that you guys aren't squeamish about surgery and the like, since you should be wary of it this chapter. Also, since I promised Celcius that she'll be in this chapter, you all will be able to read about her in all of her blue glory.  
Now, on with it!

Chapter 12: The Third Day, Part One

"What are you doing, Colette?" Kratos shouted as he dashed through the trees in the woods near Altamira. "Didn't I tell you to actually try to hit me?" He ducked to dodge a chakrams that was aimed at his head. Colette stormed through the bushes and threw the second chakrams at him. Kratos hit it away with his sword, which made it fly into a tree and stick several inches in the wood. They had been sparring for at least an hour without stopping. At each turn, Colette seemed to become stronger, more accurate, and smarter. Each time Kratos hit her with a counter, she would dodge it the next time he threw it at her. She was developing surprisingly quick, even by Kratos' standards.

"Keep going, Colette, I know that you can do better than this!" He shouted as he dodged her chakrams once again, only to hear the sound of a falling tree behind him. He turned to see it falling in his direction! Kratos jumped out of the way and into the air as he took out his angelic wings. The chakrams from before began to curve back towards him! Another dodge to the side let him avoid it. Suddenly, Colette was right in front of him, her wings out as well, and used her remaining chakrams to slash at him as hard as she could. Kratos got hit. Hard. Her physical strength was heightened by her Cruxis Crystal, so Kratos was sent careening through the trees for about half a mile, leaving a trench of fallen trees in his wake.

Colette saw this chance, and flew after him after catching the other chakrams. When she reached him, she found him sitting against a tree at the end of the trench, and swung her chakrams at him in an "X". Kratos raised his sword horizontally, and easily stopped her advance.

He looked up at her and said, "I commend your hard work, Colette. You were finally able to hit me within the second hour of the third day of your training. You seem to be about as capable as Lloyd was when he trained under me. However..." He began to easily pushed Colette's chakrams slowly away with his sword. "I'll do to you what I did to Lloyd when he first landed a hit on me..." He looked past his sword at Colette with threatening eyes. "I now consider you on my level." He swung his sword so that Colette was pushed back through the air by the force of it against her chakrams. Kratos shot through the air and stopped right in front of Colette, and they began to trade blow after blow as they flew through the air. They separated, and flew in arches until they clashed again. The paths that they took left trails of light in their wake as they fought throughout the skies.

Sybak:

"Okay, lay over there, Zelos," Kate said as Zelos laid himself on the surgical table in the basement Sybak lab, Kate's old place of work. When Zelos, Kate, and Raine got to the lab, he had commanded the other scientists to let Kate in and out of the lab freely from that point on. The scientists had no choice but to obey him, and let the trio in without a quarrel. Zelos could hardly walk with the scars on his feet, so he had to be helped by Raine and Kate as they went into the lab in the basement. Before they arrived, Kate had asked Zelos to fast for a day. Right now in the lab, his stomach was completely empty.

"So, how does it feel to be back at the lab, Kate?" Zelos asked cheerily.

"Nostalgic, to say the least," She responded as she looked through a drawer in her dusty desk. "Now then, aside from the loss of your Cruxis Crystal, your hands and feet were injured beyond the scope of normal healing arts. Maxwell had trouble even closing them up. I say it would be good to do surgery on your hands and feet so that you can move around and hold a sword again. Then we can ask Altessa if he can point us in the direction of any Cruxis Crystals so that we can attach one to you within the next few days. I'm sure you're okay if we do this, right?"

"That depends, are you sure you're qualified?"

"Believe it or not, expheres and Cruxis Crystals aren't the only field that I am skilled in. I know how to repair limbs by using a method that requires two people. Also, the reopening of the wound is necessary, since the x-rays that we took of your hands showed that some nerves and bones have been repaired improperly in all four of your limbs. One person does the actual surgery and repairs broken blood vessels and bones in tandem with the regenerative spells of healing arts. It's quite complicated, and can take hours of continuous surgery to complete, but the procedure will allow you to fight again. It's a drastic measure, but it's one we have to take before we can even think about getting you another crystal. Besides, this allows you to recover your former mobility in a shorter time than other treatments, and time is something that we don't have."

"I see." Zelos said. Raine stood in a dark corner of the room with her arms crossed. She had an oddly solemn look about her. Zelos looked over at her, but she turned her head away from him and bit her lower lip. He didn't know what to make of her reaction, so he just laid on the table and stared at the stone ceiling. When he got tired of that, he lifted his left hand from his side and stared at the round scar that was on either side. "So..." Zelos started as he let his hand fall back to his side, "I'd wager that this procedure will hurt?" He looked over at Raine with his usual cheery smile.

Raine turned her head further away from Zelos' direction. Kate walked over to him with a syringe with red liquid in it in her hand and a frown on her face. Kate said, "Yes... but don't worry, you won't remember a thing when it's all over." She took off his long pink and black gloves, Raine removed his headband and tied his hair into a pony tail, and Zelos took off his pink coat thing. When they finished doing those things, Kate pressed a button that was underneath the table, and two small platforms extended from either side of the table in which she placed Zelos' hands on. She strapped his hands to the small trays with small belts that went around his wrists, and Zelos slipped his fingers into small tubes so that his hands wouldn't close during the surgery. Raine silently picked up her staff, which was propped up against one of the walls, and walked over to Zelos. Kate took a tray of surgical tools and set them on a small rolling table.

Kate dabbed a cotton ball of rubbing alcohol on Zelos' arm, and stuck the needle into his skin. The light red liquid flowed into his veins, and... he didn't feel any different. Raine picked up a white cloth from Kate's desk and began to fold it into halves. She walked over to Zelos and put it close to his mouth. "It's so that you don't bite your tongue..." She said without making eye contact with him.

"... Hey, Kate," Zelos said, "why don't you use something to make me sleep through this?" He was now looking more nervous than before.

Kate paused, "... Sorry, Zelos... but this surgery can only be done when the patient is awake and able to feel the limb that is injured..."

"Why's that?"

"... So that the patient can tell the surgeon if there are any inconsistencies during the rebuilding of tissue..."

"How can you tell what the hell I'm saying if I have a wad of cloth in my mouth?"  
Kate remained silent as she picked up a scalpel. She then answered Zelos' question in her mind, By how loud your screams are... After what felt like a minute of silence, she said, "Raine, let's begin the surgery."

...Even with the sound proof walls and ceiling, his muffled screams could be heard throughout the Sybak lab.

Flanoir:

"What do you mean 'incident' you senile old man?" The blue-skinned, short-haired summon spirit of ice shouted at Maxwell. She was floating above her ice cave alter with Maxwell floating in front of her. When she shouted, an extra layer of ice covered the walls of the cave in an instant, and several spires of ice jutted out menacingly.

"I mean what I mean, dear Celcius," Maxwell said calmly as he flipped through a book entitled The Art of War. "Another one of those creatures compiled of expheres has appeared, and I'm not too happy that Sheena didn't tell me sooner."

"Well, of course she didn't tell you, you're a fool that does nothing but read human literature!" Celcius palmed her face and sat on a hunk of spontaneously-generated ice. "So what's so important about that thing, anyway? If it's a monster, can't you just separate it's molecules and kill it before it does any more damage?"

Maxwell closed the book and said, "That is just what I am not able to do. Do you remember the last time one of these things showed up? It took an attack with equivalent power to Shining Bind to destroy it."

"Of course I remember. You begged all of the other spirits, including myself, to come and see you defeat it. You wanted us to step in in case something happened."

"Yes, and Kratos used Shining Bind on it, and it lived through it without so much as a scratch!"

Celcius' eyes widened. She simply stopped moving and stared at Maxwell for a good minute of nothing but silence. Then, she smiled devilishly and said, "Now you've interested me, old man. Care to fill me in a bit more?" Maxwell said nothing. Celcius decided to remain patient and wait for an answer, but it wasn't given to her. "Hey, I asked you to fill me in, Maxwell!" Still no response. She leaned in closer to him... and saw that he was asleep! "Wake up, dammit!" Celcius shouted as her fist came crashing down on Maxwell's head.

He drowsily yawned and looked at Celcius. He said, "Oh, Celcius! So good to see you!" She hit him again. "Hey, I was only kidding, y'know!"

"Now, then, let's go to Altamira. I don't want to wait for the pact-maker to summon us; we need to be there to defend her at any given time!" Maxwell nodded his head, and they both turned into balls of light and shot out of the cave. There was silence after they left, even when a figure began to emerge from the shadows itself.

"I'll... help..." Shadow mumbled to himself as he transformed into a ball of black light and shot out of the cave after them.

As Maxwell and Celcius went through the sky like shooting stars, Maxwell said to her telepathically, "I should probably invite Efreet and the others, don't you think?"

"I agree, old man, we'll need all the help we can get," Celcius answered.

"Sheena tends to lack initiative these days, and probably wouldn't summon them when she really needs them. You go on ahead, and I'll go and get them."

"Fine." Maxwell stopped in midair, and shot in a different direction than Celcius. She kept on going, and thought to herself, I hope that Sheena's okay...

"Sheena... fine..." A raspy voice came from behind her.

She directed her attention towards the voice and saw Shadow trailing behind her as a ball of black light. "Were you following us the whole time?"

"Yes..."

"You could have told us, you know!"

"Sorry..."

"Well, whatever, that's one less spirit to invite. It's just that you're the one that creeps me out the most, I mean, why do you have to speak one word at a time and remain in that strange form all the time?"

"It's... dark..."

"Oh, come on..." Celcius metaphysically palmed her face. "Whatever, I can already see Altamira. Let's hurry."

"Agreed..."

"Quit that!"

The woods near Altamira:

"Good work, Colette! Keep it up!" Kratos yelled as he traded blows with Colette in midair. They were still flying over... what was left of the woods outside of Altamira. Both of them had used Judgment at least twice respectively, and numerous craters covered the landscape. Kratos had a few cuts on his arms, while Colette, however, was covered with cuts and scrapes. They had been sparring seriously for at least six hours straight! Colette was breathing heavily, and holding her bleeding left shoulder with her good arm. Kratos smirked, "Do you want to take a break, Colette?"

"No! Not yet!" She shouted, and held both of her chakrams in one hand. An angelic magic circle appeared underneath her, and she began to chant quietly to herself. Seeing her doing this, Kratos flew towards her and interrupted the spell with an elbow to her forehead. She reeled back in and did a back flip in midair, and steadied herself as Kratos came in for another attack. They clashed again, this time with Colette fighting back with two chakrams in one hand. When they separated, she shouted, "Angel Feathers!" Three glowing chakrams shot towards Kratos.

"What?" He said, and dodged them effortlessly. A delayed spell, huh? He thought to himself, and flew at Colette again. She held both chakrams in her hand separate from each other with two fingers holding each parallel with her arm. Kratos swung down onto her, and she blocked with one of the chakrams. She let that one slip from her grip, and Kratos slipped forward along with it. Colette used the second one to hit him hard in the stomach.

Kratos let out a grunt, and went soaring through the air with Colette going in for a follow-up attack. She kept the three glowing chakrams from Angel Feathers materialized even after Kratos dodged them, and made them fly at him from all sides. He was slashed twice on his chest, and another time on his right arm, and he was a sitting duck when Colette came down on him with a hard shoulder-ram into the two cuts on his chest. Blood spurted out as he grunted in pain and was slammed into the ground, which upturned a chunk of earth and created yet another sloppy crater. When the dust cleared, Kratos stood over Colette, who was unconscious.

"You're becoming quite the fighter, Colette," He said as he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. "I think that you'll want to have a break now, right? Healing Stream!" A watery magic circle appeared on the ground underneath them, and washed away most of their wounds. He let out a sigh of relief, and took to the sky for Altamira. Just when he got above the trees, two balls of light, one light blue and the other black, flew up behind him. He turned to see what they were, and they stopped when they reached him. "Wait, I know those lights!" He said as they burst into many smaller lights to reveal their true forms as Celcius and Shadow. "What are you two doing here?"

Celcius and Shadow were floating in midair in front of Kratos as if they were standing on the very air itself. Celcius looked critically at Kratos and said, "Just what were you and Colette doing to this poor forest? Gnome's gonna be really pissed when he gets here, isn't he?"

"Wait, more of you are coming of your own accord? Why didn't Sheena simply summon you? Wouldn't it be easier for her to do that?"

Shadow broke in and said, "Explaining... difficult..."

"What he said," Celcius said as she casually picked something out of her ear with her pinky finger.

"Well, come with me to Altamira, and you can explain everything to everyone."  
"Sure."

Later, Kratos laid Colette in her bed and informed everyone that was in the hotel at the time. Lloyd, Sheena, Genis, Presea, Chocolat, Pietro, and Regal all came and met Kratos and the summon spirits in the lobby. Sheena was especially surprised that they had come.  
"So, I guess you guys'll want to know why we came here?" Celcius asked once everyone had gathered.

"Yeah, and are there others coming?" Sheena asked. She had been practicing with Lloyd on the roof of the resort, so she had a few minor cuts on her.

"I'll answer the first question first, since it'll take fifteen minutes for little mister darkness over there to string together two sentences." Celcius pointed her thumb behind herself at Shadow.

"...Cold..." Shadow said with his unchangeable tone.

"Hey, I am the summon spirit of ice! Anyway, we came from our usual domains instead of having you summon us during the upcoming battle for two reasons. Firstly, you may not have enough time to summon us while fighting this thing. Maxwell told me, and he says that this thing'll be all over you if you give it the slightest chance at all. Secondly, whenever you summon one of us, we get much weaker due to the energy it takes to teleport to your specific location. For example: when you fought us back in all of our domains, we were rather strong, right? Now think of all the times that you have had to summon us in a battle. Have we ever been as powerful after your summons as when you first fought us? I think not."

"I never knew about that..." Sheena said solemnly.

"... Anyway," Celcius continued, "to answer your second question, Maxwell has gone to fetch everyone else, so there shouldn't be anything to worry about for the battle in four days. With almost a dozen reinforcements, we shouldn't have a problem."

"I get it," Lloyd said, his hand on his chin. "So we'll definitely win!" He smiled happily with confidence.

"Don't get too excited, Lloyd," Kratos said flatly.

"Wh-what? Why not?"

"Remember Maxwell's words? He said that this creature can disrupt the powers of summon spirits due to it's excess energy. We may still have trouble no matter how many of the summon spirits come to our aid."

Lloyd remained silent. He knew not to argue with Kratos when he talked like that, since he was always right.

"And that's just the reason why Maxwell suggested that all of the summon spirits come here." Celcius broke in. "This creature is the summon spirits' mortal enemy right now. We can't let it's existence slide."

Sheena stepped towards Celcius with an odd look on her face. "Thank you, Celcius. I wish that I could have realized this sooner."

"Psh. It's not your fault. I'd get stupid, too if I hung around Lloyd every day."

"What was that?" Lloyd shouted.

Sybak:

"Zelos! Bear with us for a few more minutes! Please!" Kate yelled as she was connecting another nerve together in Zelos' right hand. She was wearing a hair net and a white surgery mask on her face. His right arm was twitching with pain, and his muffled screams only grew louder when she let go of the nerve ending. Veins bulged out of his arm as streaks of excruciating pain went up and down the limb as if it were an electrical wire. His other hand had already been fully mended, but Raine and Kate had to go directly to the other hand so as not to waste any time. That one hand had taken two and a half hours to heal, and they were just starting the third hour with his right hand. In the interim between the two hands, Kate had put IVs (Intravenous) into both of Zelos' arms. The needles were placed on his forearms, and sterile intravenous fluid was pumped into him slowly so that he wouldn't dehydrate.

Raine was slowly, but continually, mending Zelos' hand. All she could say as she did it was, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Kate took tweezers from the tray of surgical tools and gently pulled a thick blood vessel over to it's proper opening on the other side of the hole. Raine's healing arts melded them together. Most of the bones and blood vessels had been repaired by now, and all that remained was to finish up a few nerve endings and close it up.

"Get ready, Raine, I'm almost done." Kate said as she took a thinner set of tweezers and used it in tandem with the other pair. When she finished what she was doing, she quickly removed the tweezers and shouted, "Now!" Raine exerted a high amount of healing magic, and skin closed over both sides of his hand in an instant. His screams suddenly subsided, and he laid down on the surgery table, panting heavily. His eyes had bags under them, and he looked almost hatefully at the wall.

"Zelos..." Raine said as she knelt next to where he rested his head. "I'm sorry, that one took longer than we thought." A few tears welled up in her eyes, and Zelos didn't make eye-contact with her.

Kate stood where she was, wiping sweat from her forehead with a cloth that she had in her lab coat pocket. "Raine, come over here, please." She said, motioning Raine to come with her to her desk. She followed her over to the other side of the room, wiping her tears as she did so. When she had Raine alone she said, "You cannot let your feelings for Zelos get in the way right now. Because you didn't want him to be in pain, you exerted more healing magic than necessary when we started on his other hand. That caused some of his cells to regenerate too quickly, and thus collided with some of the nerves that happened to be near those areas. That's what made it more difficult for both you and Zelos."

"... I'm sorry, Kate..." Raine said with a depressed tone. "I... only want to help him..."

"I know, but to help him, you need to use the amount of healing magic that I specify. You got it?"

"...Yes..."

Kate nodded her head and walked over to Zelos. "Are you ready for us to start on your feet? You can rest if you want."

"...I'm fine, just get it over with, will you?" Zelos said coldly.

A/N: Now, then, I think that a little skit like what I normally do will just dampen the drama, don't you think? This is the first part of the Zelaine section of the week. I meant to write only three chapters about what happened during the week of preparation, but it looks like I'll be doing four instead! Woo! So, read, review, and see you in the next chapter: The Third Day: Part Two.  
King Kamor  



	13. The Third Day, Part Two: Selective

**A/N:** I would like to take this time to thank all of you for reading this fanfiction. I never thought that it would get this far, but is has, thanks to all of you. Thank you all for getting this fanfiction over 2000 hits. I couldn't have done it without you. I hope that all of you continue to read this so that I could write even better. Thank you for your time. (By the way, sorry for the badness of last chapter, I was in a hurry and forgot to put in scene-breaking lines and bold/italics and the like.)

Now that that's done with, on with the skit!

Zelos: I hate that you delayed our lovey-doveyness by one chapter!

Raine: Thank you for delaying our lovey-doveyness by one chapter! It gave me just enough time to find a stunt double! (Brings her in)

Shara: Hey, Jon, am I really gonna be in this fanfic? I want to get back to your original story to see what happens to me.

Me: Shara? _You're_ Raine's stunt-double?

Shara: Well, we _do_ have similar hair. Mine's just red.

Zelos: Oooooh! She's hot, too! (gets smacked by both women)

Me: Anyway, I'll have to hypnotize them or something to get them to go through with a certain scene in this chapter (snicker).

Disclaimer: (man, I haven't done this for awhile...) I don't own any of the characters in the game Tales of Symphonia.

Now, on with it!

* * *

**Chapter 13: The Third Day, Part Two: Selective**

Zelos awoke with a gasp in a white-sheeted bed. At first, he was lost in confusion as to where he was. All that he could remember was Kate giving him a shot. Everything after that was just a blur. Over the bed was a semi-transparent veil that laid atop four corner pillars on the bed. He was back in his room in the Altamira resort. The Chosen sat up, pushed aside the sheets, and looked around the room through the veil. Everything was in it's rightful place. The maids in Altamira were probably hard at work for hours to finish cleaning up the mess he had made a few days ago. When he laid eyes on his sword, which was on the dinner table, he immediately threw the sheets off, pushed the veil out of the way, and ran over to the table.

He looked at his hands, which had dark red circles that outlined the area where the scars used to be, and closed his eyes. "Please..." He prayed, and grabbed the sword by the sheathe with one hand and the hilt with the other. With a pull of his hand, the sword came out effortlessly, with his grip tight on the hilt. "...Yes! Ha ha!" Zelos shouted as he began to do swing his sword around happily! His laughs filled the room as he danced about the floor with happiness.

Just then, womeone openned the door and shouted, "Zelos!" Raine had just made it to his room. She had overslept from the all-night surgery in Sybak while Kate and a few other scientists used an EC to take Zelos back to Altamira. Zelos stopped swinging his sword and stared at the half-elf that had just barged into his room, and sheathed it calmly.

"Why, hello, my gorgeous beauty!" He said with a sly grin.

Raine smiled happily and tackle-hugged him, making him drop his sword and be knocked to the floor.

"Whoa!"

"Zelos! Kate said that you still had to recover for another day, but you're okay!"

"What? Oh yeah, that's right! Man, did she do a great job on that surgery! Just _look_ at her handiwork!" He held up his hands to show her.

A few tears went down Raine's cheeks, and she nuzzled her face in his chest. "I'm glad that you're okay, Zelos..." She looked up at him lovingly.

"Yup! Nothing can stop me! Now, to start things off, what's your name, my gorgeous beauty?"

There was silence as a wave of disbelief swept across Raine's face. "What?"

"Your name, beautiful!"

"...Zelos... it's me! It's me, Raine! Remember?"

"Hm... Doesn't ring any bells."

"Stop joking around, you stupid Chosen!"

"I'm not joking, my hunny. If you're just gonna yell at me, then get off!"

Raine scrambled off of him and stared at him with shock. After stepping back a few paces, she turned around and dashed out the door.

* * *

**Some time later in Kate's room:**

"And he didn't remember you at all?" Kate said with disbelief as she attempted to comfort Raine, who was crying in the doorway of the room.

"That's right, and it's all that medecine's fault!" Raine shouted. "You said that the shot you gave him will make him forget the surgery so that the trauma wouldn't effect his mind! But now he's forgotten _me_!"

Out of habit, Kate put her hand on her chin as she thought about what must have gone wrong. "I'll check out what the medecine is made of, and see if any side-effects are apparent in past use of it. I'll tell you what I find once I get back. Don't worry, memory loss is easy to take care of. We just need to find the reason that he's forgotten you, and we can fix it."

"...Fine..." Raine said solemnly, and began to walk down the hallway to her room. About halfway there, Raine saw Celsius walking up the stairs towards her.

Just as the blue-skinned summon spirit walked past the door to Zelos' room, he came crashing throught it, immediately got on one knee, and took Celsius' hand. "Celsius! My cool beauty! When did you arrive?" He said romantically as sparkles appeared around his face. Celsius stared blankly at him, and yanked her hand from him.

"Do you have to do that every time we meet outside of battle, Zelos?" She asked as she threw a piercing glare at the Chosen. He didn't seem to take notice in the glare.

"Of course!"

"Why? Don't tell me that it's to be courtious."

"What's wrong with being courtious to a beauty like you?"

"It annoys me to no end, and I tend to break things that annoy me..." She held up her left hand, which began to glow with blue light.

Zelos took a step back, "Okay, okay, I get the general picture... So, your room or mine?"

"What the hell's the matter with you?"

"You said that being courtious annoys you, so I just went straight to the point without a hint of courtesy!"

She slapped him in the face with her glowing hand, which made him fly back through the open door to his room and plow through several pieces of furniture. "Dumbass..."

"You know you want me, Cel!" Echoed Zelos' voice from deep in his room as the summon spirit groaned and began to walk away towards Raine.

"Hello, Professor."

"Yes, hello, Celsius." Raine said with a small laugh. She found the outcome of Zelos' attempt to swoon a summon spirit amusing. "What are you doing here? Did Sheena summon you just now?"

"No, I came of my own accord along with Shadow."

"Really? How come?"

"Maxwell told me about the creature in the mines, and we decided to come. He and I split up halfway so that I can be here in case anything happens and he can go and get the other spirits."

"I see. So, do you like it here in Altamira at all?"

"It's annoying to say the least. They took out the magitechnological elevators and added stairs since I was last here, so that's a real pain, even though it's good for the wellbeing of the world. That, and it's hot, humid, and too many human males have already tried flirting with me besides Zelos."

"...Okay..."

* * *

**Sybak:**

Kate threw open the doors to the lab, slamming them into the wall. "K-Kate!" A random scientist exclaimed, nearly dropping his clipboard.

She walked past him saying, "Get me the ingredients list for the memory-medecine Thoralos as well as the documents for all patients that it has been used on in the past! Meet me in the basement laboratory." She said it with so much authority that the scientist scampered off to the medical documents department without delay. Some time later, the scientist came running into the basement lab with several documents in his arms.

"These are most of the different compositions for Thoralos, as well as every document containing information on the outcome of each time it has been used on a patient here."

Kate was sitting at her desk. "I don't need most of them, I need _all_ of them!"

"Y-yes ma'am!" The scientist set down the documents he had and rushed out the doors to get the rest.

"Honestly," Kate said to herself as she took the top document in the pile. She looked at the various patients that Thoralos had been used on. Only once every dozen or so had permanet memory loss.

After another fifteen minutes, the scientist came back down to the stairs to the basement with a few more folders in his hands. "I'm sorry, Kate, but that first load was all that I could carry in one trip." He handed the documents to her.

"Thank you. You can leave." Kate said as she began to sift through the papers again.

"If I may, Kate, why do you wish to know so much about Thoralos?"

"One of my friends has apparently gotten selective memory loss because of it. Every memory he had of one of my friends has been erased. I'm trying to find out what caused it and if there's a cure."

"I see. I hope that your research is fruitful, ma'am." The scientist bowed deeply and left the room. He didn't dare mess with Kate for two reasons. One, because Zelos said so. Two, because if looks could kill, he'd be dead. Kate flipped through various records and scribbled little notes on a note pad with a freshly-sharpened pencil. For each record she had, about one hundred past patients, only about fifteen of them had memory loss outside of the medecine's specs. At least an hour passed, and she still couldn't find a pattern with the slightly varying ingredients of Thoralos and the condition of the patients.

"This should prove useful..."

* * *

**Altamira:**

"I'm glad that all of you could make it," Sheena said. She was standing on the outside steps of the hotel with all of the summon spirits standing before her. It was sunset, and all of the spirits had just arrived. Behind her was Lloyd, Ace, Colette, Regal, Kratos, Genis, and Presea. Raine and Zelos were conspicuously absent.

"No problem, Sheena!" Gnome said with glee as he waved around his shovel. Aska's two heads squacked when they almost got hit by it. The three Silfs were talking to Volt, who was conversing with them in his silent language. Celcius was talking to Efreet, and Luna was talking to Undine. Shadow was off somewhere in the shadows, since the sun was still somewhat out, and Maxwell was casually hovering over everyone else reading a book.

"Now, if I can have all of your attention!" Sheena yelled, raising her hands to calm the spirits. When they had calmed down, she spoke. "I'll now tell all of you the battle plan for the fight a few days from now. Kratos, with his battle experience, has suggested that all of you summon spirits attack first. This is because you are all more powerful than you are during an ordinary summoning, and would be advantageous to have you guys attack right away. Then, the rest of us will come in and attack with several powerful unison attacks. Raine and Genis' Prism Stars should keep it still for awhile while causing some damage. At that time, our four angels will come in with the unison attack that they used on it for their first battle against it."

Undine interrupted, "But wasn't that attack not powerful enough to kill it? If it's more powerful now, then it could brush it off like morning dew."

"She's right, ya know!" Gnome chimed in.

"Yes, if it is indeed more powerful, it could complicate this plan," Luna agreed. There was an uproar of talking amongst the crowd of summon spirits.

"Everyone! Calm down!" Sheena said, but they continued to talk. She took a deep breath, "Everyone, SHUT UP!" The spirits immedately silenced. "Ahem. I'll get to that in a bit, so let me finish, okay?"

As Sheena continued with the explaination of the plan, Raine looked down on them from her balcony solemnly. She was wearing a long, white nightgown, even though it was only sunset. She planned to go to bed very early that night, since she was tired from using her healing arts during Zelos' surgery. The nightgown blew in the wind as she rested her head on one hand on the railing of the balcony.

She pushed a few strands of hair behind her ear and said quietly to herself, "How could he have forgotten...? Was I just not important enough for him to remember?" She thought hard on Zelos' reaction to her tackle-hug earlier that day, and about why he had forgotten only her. After a few minutes of thought, she remembered the way he failed to make eye-contact with her during the surgery, and the tone he had when he told them to get it over with. A tear rolled down her cheek.

"Raine!" Someone shouted from off in the distance. Raine raised her head to see Kate flying a pink rheaird towards the hotel.

"What the--?" Raine yelled as Kate half-turned the flying machine so that she skidded to a stop in midair right in front of the white-haired healer. Don't ask how she did it, not even they knew.

Kate's usually-perfect hair was askew, and she had in her hand what looked like a book bag with the strap around her shoulder. "I have the rest of the documents back at the lab." She tossed the book bag to Raine.

She caught it and looked inside to see at least a dozen folders. "Did you find out anything useful?"

"Just one thing. All of the patients that had permanent selective amnesia were wearing or once had expheres."

"What? So... Zelos had memory loss because he had a Cruxis Crystal?"

Kate nodded, still floating outside of Raine's balcony on the rheaird, "Most likely. I'll have to get back to you. That was the most that I could carry without it weighing down the rheaird. I'm going back to the lab to get the rest. Look over those while I go get them, okay?" She revved the rheaird's magic engine, and shot off towards Sybak. Raine was left on her balcony with a bookbag of medical documents in her arms.

She let out a sigh, "Well, I may as well get started." She said. when she turned around, she was startled to see a familiar face right in front of her!

"Hey, don't be frightened, my goreous beauty!" Zelos said with a smile.

"Wh-what are you doing in my room, Zelos?" Raine asked, her heart still pounding from surprize.

"I'm glad that you asked. Since you've seemed to have a real thing for me ever since we met earlier today, I thought that I should drop by!"

Raine was silent. She walked over to the table, gently set the bookbag down on it, and sat in a chair with her eyes looking at the floor.

"Hey, you okay?"

She looked up, "I'm fine, it's just... I hope that your memory loss is only temporary..."

"Memory loss? I don't have any memory loss that I can speak of. Never have, never will. Why do you say that?"

"... The surgery is what gave you selective memory loss... and I'm the one that you forgot..."

"What? No way. If I knew you before the surgery, then I _know_ that I would've remembered you!" he pulled a chair over to her and sat in it with lazy slump.

"You always were bold, weren't you?" She looked away from him as she talked.

"Everyone knows that!" He laughed.

Raine smiled, still looking away from him. "Anyway, since you can't seem to remember, my name is Raine Sage."

"I see, nice to meet you, Miss Sage."

She frowned. "Even so, I don't know why you forgot _me_ of all people... I mean... I..."

"You... what...?" He motioned his hands for her to continue. He seemed rather eager for her to finish.

She swallowed. "I..." She faced him, leaning rather close to his face, and smiled as a small tear rolled down her cheek. "... I.." Her words faded away, and she never finished her sentence. She blushed as she put her hand on the back of his head, pulled him close, and kissed him. Zelos, though surprized, closed his eyes and kissed back. Raine put her other hand on his cheek as they kissed, and pulled him closer to her. The two of them stood up, arms around eachother, and continued to kiss. They stopped kissing after a time that seemed too short for a descent kiss, even though it was five straight minutes, and embraced eachother.

"Raine..." Zelos whispered into her ear, "finish what you were going to say..."

A few tears slid down her blushing cheeks, "I... love you, Zelos..."

They were silent... For the longest time, they said nothing. They just held eachother. Only the distant sound of Sheena talking to the summon spirits outside and the faint sound of the wind could be heard from the room.

Suddenly, Zelos began to snicker.

"Zelos?" Raine said with confusion. She let go of him and looked at him face-to-face.

He was smiling wider than he ever had before, "Heheh ha! You said it!"

"Wh-what? Why are you laughing? I just confessed to you, and that's how you react?"

"Oh, don't worry, my dear Professor, I'm as happy as you are!"

"Wait a second, if you forgot who I am, then how do you know my nickname...?"

"Oh, see, about that... uh, stand right here, okay?" Zelos grabbed her shoulders and led her to the center of the room. "Now stay right there, okay?" He walked over to the door, opened it, and stood just outside the room. "All that memory-loss stuff... I was just acting it all out!"

Raine stood there, her face beginning the transformation from confusion to anger. "...ZELOOOOOOOOS!" She ran towards the doorway at him.

"Whoa! Good thing I get the head start!" He dashed down the hallway with Raine rampaging behind him! When he made it to the staircase, he hopped onto the railing and slid down it. Raine, who was still shouting at him, did a huge kind of long-jump down the stairs, and landed on the bottom step. She was still hot on his heals. Zelos pushed one of the resort workers out of the way as he passed him, and continued on into the lobby.

The receptionist girl saw them coming and said, "Chosen! Is anything wrong?"

He rushed by, saying, "Not a thing! I just hope that I live!" The red-head did a flying kick at the front doors of the resort, bursting them open, with Raine mere steps behind him. He plowed into the strategy meeting that was still being held, and knocked over several people.

Sheena and Lloyd were two of the people knocked down. "Zelos! What the hell?" Lloyd shouted as he caught Sheena, who nearly fell on top of him.

Zelos sped by. "Can't talk! Being chased!"

Raine ran into all three of the Silf, and continued to persue Zelos onto the beach. The Silf all flew into the air, and went ker-splat on the ground next to Volt. "Ooooow..." The three of them moaned in tandem.

Raine was chasing Zelos down the beach. "Zelos! Get your lying ass back here!" She was making snatches at him, but still missing by mere inches.

"No! You'll kill me!"

"How's that a bad thing?"

"I don't wanna die yet!"

"Well, too bad!" Suddenly, Raine made a dive, and put her arms around his waist. He face-planted into the sand. "Gotcha!" She said. Just then, a wave washed over them, toppling them over in it's wake. Zelos ended up on his back with Raine on top of him. They stared at eachother with the ocean water coming up to Zelos' waist and to Raine's knees. She had both of her hands in the sand on either side of Zelos' head. "Got you..." She smiled triumphantly.

"Yep, you got me, my gorgeous beauty," Zelos said as he rested his hands on the back of his head so that his hair wouldn't get any more sand in it than there already was. When he looked at Raine closer, he noticed that she was crying! "Hey, what's wrong?"

She slapped him across the face, and shouted, "I can't believe that you would pull a trick like that!"

"Hey, that hurt!" Zelos whined, rubbing the red hand-print on his cheek.

"Not as much as you hurt me! You have no idea what went through my mind when I thought that you had forgotten about me!" She sobbed, and continued, "I thought that I was just not important enough to you to be remembered! That I was just another one of those girls that you play around with all the time! Do you realize how much just thinking about that can hurt?" Tears were now pouring down her face.

"Raine..." He sat up and reached for her with one of his hands to confort her, but she slapped it away and continued to sob.

"What... do I see in a man like you...? Why do _you_ have to be the one that I...?" She sobbed and wiped her tears away with the backs of her hands. Zelos looked up at her sympathetically, and sat up. He put his arms around her as she tried to keep him away by beating her fists on his chest. Once he managed to get his arms all the way around her, her beatings began to subside. Her hands began to slide down his black undershirt, but she clutched the fabric and buried her face in his chest.

"Sorry, Raine... I didn't mean to hurt you, okay? I admit it, I went too far this time, okay?"

"It's not okay!" Raine said with a muffled voice.

"Alright, it's _not_ okay, and I'm just a stupid Chosen that'll do anything to win a woman's heart."

Raine raised her head from his chest and looked up at him. "No... you're not stupid, Zelos..."

"How so?"

"...Because... the only men that I actually admire... are geniuses!" She lunged at him and wrapped her arms around his neck, which made him fall backwards onto the sand. Raine began to kiss him as hard as she could.

"Mmmmm! Mph mmm! Mph mm!" (translation: Raine! Hold it! Less tongue!)

As the new official couple was kissing on the beach, Kate was hovering fifty-some feet above them on her rheaird. "Well, it seems that his memory is back... If he ever lost it." Kate said as she began to fly away to the balcony of her room at the resort. "Shame that I couldn't put those documents to good use, though..."

* * *

**A/N:** All right! I managed to get through that pairing! Now for the hard one: Kate and Pietro! No, seriously, I'm drawing a freakin' blank when i try to think of what the hell to put in the next chapter! (sweatdrop) Meh. I'll think of something by the time I get back from New Mexico in a few weeks. I'll be leaving on Thursday the 29th and come back... I don't know when I'll come back, but it'll be sometime in early July, 'kay? 

Celsius: Woo hoo! I got to slap Zelos!

Zelos: Good thing that was my stunt-double!

Me: Wait, I didn't OK this!

Jared: 'Sup, Jon! I'm liking that all of these beautiful women are in this fanfic!

Me: Jared? What the hell? Get back to my story!

Zelos: Hey, Jared's my pal! He may as well be a sixteen-year-old version of me, the way he plays around with women!

Me: Dammit, I can't believe that Jared did this without my knowing. He probably did it just to hit on Celsius, Raine, and Sheena!

Jared: Yup! Hit the nail on the head, Jon!

Ivan: Why do I always have to deal with you, Jared?

Jared: Oh! Ivan! Eh heh! Uh... how've ya been, buddy? (gets blasted into oblivion)

Me: Anyway, review this chapter, please! I'm excited to know what you guys think of the Zelaine that I put in this one! See you all in the next chapter!

**King Kamor**


	14. Days of Their Lives

**A/N:** Thank you all for liking the last chapter. The idea for Zelos faking memory loss just popped into my head and, since there's nothing really at risk online with fanfiction, I decided to just go for it, y'know? It seemed to work better than I thought! I'll do... _something_ with the Pietro/Kate in this chapter, too. This chapter will be taking place a day after the last chapter. At the very least, look forward for some major fluff in this one!

(By the way, my entire house's internet connection was out from the 13th to the 16th, and I'm ver angery at my internet provider right now. Earthlink claimed that the entire DSL line in northern California was down... huh... does that explain my neighbor's perfect DSL connection to the net? Didn't think so. All in all, I'm just three days behind schedule for this chapter. Gomen!)

Pietro: So I'll finally get to have a romantic scene with Kate?

Me: Probably. I'm just deciding to wing it for this chapter, so I can't make any promises.

Kate: But the two of us are the most rational ones in the group right now.

Me: I can see that, but I still can't put a specific scene in improvised writing. I tried it, and it turned out to be crap.

Chocolat: Hey, why don't I have a pairing? I'm important, too!

Me: Hm... Maybe I'll pair you with some random OC.

Young Man #7: Me! Pair her with me!

Young Man #2: No, pair her with me!

Me: Um, I was thinking of putting in an outcast kind of OC in later chapters after this story arch is over. So, you guys can go now.

Young Man #2 and #7: We were glad to help you with this skit, Sir Kamor! (bow)

Me: It's _King_ Kamor. Anyway, this chapter will have more of an adult-like approach to it. In the last pairings of Sheloyd and Zelaine, they were a little more quirky. Sheena and Lloyd are still naive teenagers, and the other pairing... well, it had Zelos in it (need I say more?). And since Pietro and Kate's ages were never officially stated in the game, I hereby dub Pietro twenty eight, and Kate twenty seven. (tell me if you think that they are too old/young)

On a separate note, I have found a new passion in creating AMVs! So far, I've made four AMVs based on the entire Tales series. (accept for Legendia, since I can't get the opening for it anywhere...) All three of them are on youtube under my usual screenname: KingKamor. I hope that you guys take a look. Say if you want the link to them in your reviews

Now, on with it!

* * *

**Chapter 14: The Days of Their Lives**

It was the fourth day... Three days until what Lloyd and Zelos called "D-day." Everyone, save Chocolat, was preparing for D-day to come. In the Toize Valley mines, the creature composed of expheres, which Raine had dubbed an Exphere Demon, was waiting for it's enemies to return. It simply sat in the circle of light that came from the hole in the ceiling that was made from Kratos' Shining Bind. With one knee hugged to it's chest like a child, it waited as if time wasn't a factor. The Exphere Demon hadn't even moved since it's last battle; in fact, not even so much as a twitch of movement for four days.

"They'll come eventually... I can feel it..." It said. "...Yes, I'm sure that they will..." It looked up, as if it were reacting to someone speaking to it. Since it had no facial structure, one couldn't tell whatkind of reaction it was."No, this is for the best... Yes, of course it's to increase our power by fighting them. How else will we be able to... I know that sitting here will accomplish nothing, but..." It cringed as if in submission. "...Alright... I'll do it..." It stood up and began to walk towards the exit to the mine. What it left behind was an outline of where it sat on the stone floor.

* * *

**Altamira:**

"Zelos actually did that?" Pietro exclaimed as he and Kate walked down the halls of the resort.

"That's right. I saw them kissing on the beach from my rheaird!" Kate said happily, "She's finally come clean with her feelings for him, and visa versa."

"What amuses me is that romance like that seems to make you giddy like a schoolgirl..." Pietro said nervously as Kate fidgeted around with the thought of a new romance going on. "I never would have guessed that you liked romance, you being stuck in a lab for most of your life."

Kate smiled widely, "Well, romance is just such a new thing for me, so I can't help but be excited about it."

"Really, now? Have you read any romance novels?"

"No, but I'm planning on buying some during this trip. I heard that there are some good novels that revolve around two people being at the inn in Flanoir."

"Hey, I've read one of those. It was about a man that was seeking to end his life by purposefully stranding himself in the snowy wasteland of Flanoir. When he was about to die, however, a woman saved him and brought him to the inn at Flanoir. She nursed him back to health, and they eventually fell in love... A somewhat cliched story, but it was very well-written."

Kate giggled.

"What?"

"Well, I never knew that _you_ liked romance, either."

Pietro put an arm around her shoulder. "You want to know what else is romantic?" Kate nodded her head. "The balcony table that I reserved for us at Regal's restaurant for brunch at eleven."

Kate frowned, "Sorry, but I have to do something right now."

"Lunch, then?" Pietro said hopefully.

She took his arm off of her shoulder, "I have to go and see Altessa about Zelos' new Cruxis Crystal by ten this morning. Then I have to stay and help him equip it on Zelos. That should take all day."

"...Oh, well... I guess that brunch or lunch together is out of the question, huh?"

"Sorry, Pietro..."

"It's okay. Getting ready to destroy that exphere demon at the mines is more important than eating with eachother, right?" He scratched the back of his head.

Kate suddenly perked up. "I may be back in time for a late dinner."

"Really? I'll schedule our dinner for eight, then?"

"That'd be perfect, Pietro." She hugged him tightly.

"So I'll see you tonight?"

"OI promise! In any case, I need to the the rheairds ready." With that, Kate began to walk down the hall in the direction that the two of them were originally going. This time, however, Pietro began to walk back to his room. As he walked by Zelos' room, there was a sign on it that read, "Do not disturb... or Raine will kill both of us!" He chuckled, and moved on to his room.

He opened the door and walked towards the small chair that laid on the balcony. The moment he sat in it, three distinctive streaks of light shot across the sky in jagged patterns! One light was blue, another pink, and the last one a lighter shade of blue. They ran into eachother, glanced off, and circled around eachother faster than anything Pietro had ever seen before. They were doing all of this within the view of his balcony window.

"What in the world?" He yelled as he stood up and leaned over the edge of his balcony railing. Suddenly, the three lights stopped in midair above the already-torn-up woods, and their glows began to fade. Pietro noticed right away what the lights really were: Lloyd, Kratos, and Colette.

"Come on, you two! We have to train! What kind of fighters are you if you wear out so soon in a two-on-one fight?" Lloyd shouted with his arms crossed. His large dark blue wings sparkled in the sunlight behind him as he flapped them.

Kratos panted and looked up at his son. "I apologize, Lloyd... I guess that you've improved even more than I thought since we faught in Heimdall."

"Well, duh! Since then, I got the Eternal Sword,defeated Mithos, and even gotten angelic powers from his Cruxis Crystal! What'd you expect?"

Kratos seemed a little annoyed at his son's attitude. Colette noticedthis factwhen shesaw a throbbing vein on his forehead."Nonetheless, you were easily batted away by that exsphere demon back in the mines. Remember?"

Lloyd recalled the moment when he rushed in to save Zelos, but was hit away by the exphere demon's tentacle. "What's so important about that one little hit?"

"Don't you get it? The next 'one time' that you let your opponent hit you could end in your death!"

Lloyd looked at his father with suprise. "Alright, alright... but you two need to get better, or the rest of us won't stand a chance!"

Pietro was able to hear Kratos' shouts from his balcony window, and chuckled.

* * *

**And so, night fell upon Altamira:**

Pietro was fixing his tie in the mirror in his room. He had put onthe nice suit that he got from the EC/yacht. "Rrrgh! I can never get it straight!" He complained as he tried with all his might to get his tie to straighten out. When he had finished getting ready, he slicked back his hair and looked at the clock on the wall. It was exactly seven thirty, and the sun was just starting to itch beyond the horizon. "May as well get there early..." he began to walk towards his door. The first thing that he saw as he walked down the hall was the three Sylphs. They were playfully floating down the hallway, circling around eachother. They passed by Pietro as if he weren't there, and he simply watched them with a smile on his face.

"Looks like even summon spirits like this place," He said to himself, and continued down the hallway to the stairs. One he was in the lobby, he saw Lloyd, Colette, and Kratos walking in through the double-doors. All three were battered and bruised, yet they all had smiles on their faces. Pietro and them met about halfway through the lobby. "Um, are you guys okay?"

"Never been better!" Lloyd said happily to him.

"These wounds aren't anything to whine about." Kratos stated bluntly.

Colette followed up by saying, "When we get tired, that means that the training is working!"

Pietro smiled a little. _Whatever works, huh?_ He thought. "Well, I'll see you later, everyone. I'm going out tonight." He walked past them towards the exit.

"Really? Where?" Lloyd asked out of curiosity.

Pietro stopped in his tracks. "I-I'm just going to eat at Regal's restaurant with Kate."

"Oh, but I heard that Kate won't be back for awhile." Colette said regretfully.

"I'm sure that she won't be late for our dinner, though. She promised, so things should work out just fine, right?"

Kratos walked away as Pietro went out the double doors. Lloyd and Colette looked at eachother nervously, and followed Kratos upstairs. Pietro made his way through the outside grounds of the resort until he got to the path that led to Regal's restaurant. Since nobody but them were staying in Altamira, the restaurant didn't have any crowds to speak of, unlike the way it was before they came. All of the lights were still on inside, and he noticed two employees talking outside the entrance. They faced Pietro when he walked by, and bowed as he went in. He saw Regal immediately as he opened the doors.

"Ah, Pietro," Regal said, and approached him. "You're early, aren't you?"

"Well, I just thought that I should be here before her, since it was me that asked her to come. It would be rude of me to be late." Pietro replied.

"Well, then, follow me to your table, and I'll get you something to drink."

"Sure." They walked up some stairs to a private balcony that was separate from the rest of the restaurant. It had a small round table with two elegant chairs on either side, and had a white table cloth on it. The only things lighting the area were the two candles on the tabletop. The balcony overlooked the nighttime lights of Altamira on one side and a beautiful view of the ocean. It was surrounded by vines and overgrowth on the walls on the outside of the building around it. There was a huge, tangled mess of vines directly below the balcony.

"Nobody has touched it since the last time this area was cleaned, so it should be in prime condition right about now."

"Thanks, Regal. As for that, I'll have a Flanoir Snow Tear, please." Pietro sat down in one of the chairs.

"Of course." Regal walked through the door, and into the restaurant to fetch the drink. There was silence as Pietro sat in his chair. He twiddled his thumbs as he leaned back in it. Though he tried to hide it, he was anxious for Kate to get there.

"Pietro," Regal said as he walked through the door with a wine bottle and an ice bucket.

"Ah, thank you."

Regal set the wine bottle and wine glass down and popped the cork, which shot over the railing of the balcony.

"Blarg!"

Pietro could've sworn he heard a scream of pain that sounded suspiciously like Lloyd... Oh, well. He took a sip of the blue liquid after Regal poured some in his glass, and set it down on the table. "You don't have to be our waiter, Regal. I can tell that you're tired from training with Ace, so you can rest easy. Go ahead and ask one of the other waiters to come here."

"I'd rather stay, but if you insist." Regal said, and made his way to the door.

* * *

**Below the balcony:**

"Why are we doing this, again?" Sheena asked Lloyd as she pushed a vine out of her face. The two of them, as well as Zelos and Raine, were sitting inside the huge mass of vines that resided underneath the balcony. Earlier, Lloyd had poked his head out of the sphere in order to see if he could get to a better spot, but all he saw was the cork that hit him square in his left eye. After Sheena was finished worrying about him, he sifted through his pockets and found the eyepatch from his pirate costume, which he put on his left eye for fun.

"Aren't you curious?" Zelos asked.

"Yeah, they havent said a word of their relationship, and now's the perfect time!" Lloyd said, and made the 'thumbs up' sign.

"Lloyd, you've been hanging around Zelos too much, haven't you?" Sheena said bluntly.

"Zelos, shouldn't you be at Altessa's home?" Raine asked.

"He and Kate _did_ say that my Cruxis Crystal needed some fine-tuning, but I'm sure that they'll let this one slide."

"You're hopeless."

"Oh? And who was it that just-- Mph!"

Raine covered his mouth before he could continue. She whispered to him, "Say anything about what we did this morning, and I'll kill you!"

"Mm mph!" (translation: Yes ma'am!) He said with a smiling expression. put his right hand up to his forehead in a kind of salute. She removed her hand, and he took a deep breath.

"Okay... Now then, where's Kate, anyway?" Sheena asked.

"Not sure, actually. I left Altessa's a bit early, but she should've been right behind me on her rheaird." Zelos said as he scratched his head.

"Aye, mighty suspicious, me harties." Lloyd said in a pirate-like voice.

"You aren't a real pirate, dammit!" Sheena yelled in annoyance, but not loud enough for Pietro to hear.

"In any case, kids," Zelos said, "I'm a bit worried about the fact that Kate's not here. I'll go fly over to Altessa's and see if she's still there." He stepped out of the mass of vines... and fell... "AHHHH!"

"Zelos!" Lloyd shouted, and brandished his blue wings. He swooped down grabbed him by the shoe just before he hit the ground below. Zelos still had his arms wrapped around his head in preparation for the collison with the ground.

"Huh?" He looked up at Lloyd, "Oh, thanks, bud!"

"Dumb ass! You don't have your wings back yet!" Lloyd yelled.

"Yyyyyyeah, kinda slipped my mind." His foot slipped out of his shoe, and he fell head first down the remaining two and a half feet into a bush. "Oww..."

Back up on the balcony, all Pietro could do was take sips of his wine and tolerate the delinquents below.

* * *

**Three hours later:**

It was already a little past midnight, and almost all of the employees at the restaurant were gone. Several of the remaining men and women were busy putting the chairs on top of the tables and cleaning up the floor. Regal had changed out of his chef outfit and walked up the stairs that led to the balcony. He opened the door to see Pietro asleep in his chair. All he had done was drink that single glass of wine. He must have wanted to save the rest for whenKate came, but she never did.

Regal walked over to him and shook his shoulder, "Pietro, wake up."

Pietro groggily opened his eyes and said, "Regal...? Is Kate here?"

Regal sighed, "No, she's not, Pietro. I don't think that she'll be coming tonight." Pietro said nothing. "Now, then, let's get you back to the hotel." Pietro stood up and walked with Regal down the stairs. They passed several employees, who said 'good night' to the two of them. Regal led a tired Pietro out the southern exit of the restaurant.

Just as they went out, a woman in an elegant dress came in from the northern entrance. She seemed to be looking for someone...

Back in the vines underneatht the balcony, the other two couples had, for the most part, fallen asleep with nobody to wake them up. Lloyd was asleep, using Sheena's lap as a pillow. She was still awake, and ran her fingers through his hair as he slept. Zelos was sleeping on a net of vines as if it were a hamoc, and Raine was sleeping next to him with her head resting on his chest. For some reason or another, Zelos' arm had made it's way around her waist, which made them cuddle up closer. After another few minutes, Sheena fell asleep as well. When she did, Kate came bursting through the balcony door in a shining silver dress. All that she saw was an open bottle of wine and an empty wine glass.

* * *

**Later that morning:**

Pietro was in his bed at the hotel. He had undone his tie, and taken off his jacket and plopped onto his bed, looking up at the cieling. "She said that she would be there, but she wasn't... Where is she?" He said to himself. "Well, it must've been regarding Zelos' Cruxis Crystal. She may have had to stay at Altessa's place overnight." He stood up and kicked off his shoes as he walked over to the bathroom, grabbing a towel from a nearby shelf on the way. The shower seemed to refresh him, and make his worries about Kate fade away a little. Once he was done, he put on a white bathrobe and dried his hair with a small towel, which he draped over his shoulder.

Pietro sat down on his bed, and looked at the floor, drops of water dripping from the tips f his still-wet hair. He was about to turn off the light and go to sleep when he heard a knock at his door. A sigh of annoyance escaped his mouth, and he hesitantly walked up to the door and said, "Who is it?"

"It's Kate, Pietro," her voice sounded from the other side of the door. He quickly unlocked the door and opened it to see a teary-eyed Kate standing in front of him in her long silver dress.

"... Hello, Kate," Pietro said. She sniffled a little. "You okay? You can come inside, if you'd like." She nodded, and walked in. He gave her a chair, and seated himself on the other side of the coffe table.

"I'm so sorry, Pietro!" She yelled, "I should ahve gotten here sooner-- much sooner!"

"It's okay. I'll bet that there was a lot of reasons that you couldn't make it. I understand."

"The only reason was that I was a fool!"

"Why do you say that?"

She grabbed a tissue from the box on the table and wiped her tears away. "You know about time zones, right?"

"I think so. After you're a certain distance away from another place, time is either one or more hours earlier or later. Why do you ask?"

"Altessa's place is very far from here. In fact, it's three time zones away. I lost three hours coming here on a rheaird! I thought that it was eight when it was actually almost midnight!"

Pietro's eyes widened a little in surprize. "Is that all?"

She looked up at him.

"It's okay. You just forgot is all. It's no big deal, you know. It was just a date during a time in which you were busy. It was inconsiderate of me to ask you to--"

"No, Pietro! I broke my promise to see you tonight!" She began to cry a little again.

"And here you are! You didn't break your promise at all! And even if you did break it, then I'll take no offense if you didn't mean to break it in the first place." He smiled widely at her. Kate only just now noticed that he was wearing nothing but a bathrobe. This made her blush a little, expecially when she noticed that he looked more hansom with his hair wet than when it was dry.

"Th-thank you, Pietro..." She stood up from her chair. "That makes me feel a lot better."

Pietro stood up, as well. "Glad to hear it. Maybe we can get together later tomorrow? Oh, wait, it _is_ after midnight, so it's technically tomorrow already." They laughed a little.

Kate smiled as they walked to the door together. "Of course, Pietro. I don't have to go anywhere today, so--" Before she could finish, Pietro had kissed her. They kiss lovingly for awhile before breaking it.

"I love you, Kate." Pietro said with a smile.

"I love you, too." Kate said back with a happy grin. With that, Kate walked down the hallway with newly-revived spirit.

* * *

**A/N:** Woo! My parents may be mad at me for staying online this late, but who cares? I finished! Ugh, that was hard to do! Improvising like that while making everything make sense is just plain hard! (dies of fatigue. Is ressurected by Raine) Anyway, I hope that you guys liked that last part with Pietro and Kate. I liked writing it. _Writing _it, not typing it. I mean, man, is his name a pain to type so much. Pietro, Pireto, Piesto... WTF? My hands have betrayed me! Seriously, you have no idea how many times I had to retype his name... 

Pietro: Oh, suck it up already, you tortured author!

Me: Yeah, yeah. Sorry for talking smack about your name, Prito.

Pietro: PRITO? What the hell, man?

Me: Sorry, my hands are tired!

Anywho, I hope that you liked this chapter. Now that the three pairing chaps are finally finished... On with the violence! (dances around) I think that I'll try the improvisation again in the next chapter, only with improvised fight scenes! I'm better at those, anyway. So, read, review, comment, and look at my Tales AMVs on youtube!

Until next time!


	15. Eternally

**A/N:** Okay, there was enough fluff going on in the last three chapters to start a pillow company. Now, it's time to get down and dirty with the climax of this story arch! Woo!

Zelos: Hold up a sec!

Me: What's wrong? You're about to kick ass, and you're asking me to stop typing? What the hell?

Zelos: I only have two days from the last chapter to this one! How the hell could I have gotten my powers back?

Me: Oh, I'm pretty sure that you'll at least get your wings back. Also, I've thought of something fairly bad ass for you to do instead of having all of your angilic powers back.

Zelos: Really?

Me: Or not.

Zelos: Make up your freakin' mind, man! (draws sword)

Me: Calm down, calm down. I was kidding, okay?

Moving on, I've found a rather interesting website that has free anime music downloads. Sadly, I'm oblidged not to reveal it to the public. I'll get my ass banned if I did. (sweatdrop) I hope that you guys like this chapter in all of it's... improvised glory... Though I may have to split it into two parts if it gets too long, but I'll get to that later.

Now, on with it!

* * *

**Chapter 15: Eternally  
**

Two days until D-Day...

Zelos was in Meltokio along with Kate, Raine, and Sheena. He didn't know where they were going, but he was happy enough, since he was with three women at once! Whenever he made any kind of snide remark, however, he was immediately slapped by Raine. He eventually saw that it would be in his best interest not to hit on any women that came his way, either. They eventually made their way to the Imperial Research Academy and walked in.

"Well, then," Zelos said with confusion, scratching his head, "Why're we here, again?"

"I already told you," Sheena said with a hint of annoyance in her voice, "We're here to get you a powerful weapon just in case you can't get your wings by the time D-Day comes."

"Sure, but I thought that you meant a sword or something. I don't see how the Academy could help with anything like that."

Kate explained, "It's a brand-new kind of magitechnological weapon."

"Uh, isn't that bad for the Tree?"

"Not with this. It combines a small amount of mana with a powerful catalyst to produce a maximum result with the minimum amount of mana. It uses even less mana than when Genis casts Fireball, as a matter of fact."

"Yup. My friends here really know what they're doing, so don't worry." Sheena said with pride.

"'Kay, but was it you who asked them for it?"

"Raine asked me to ask them, so you should thank her."

Raine blushed slightly, and directed her eyes away from Zelos and towards a model of an EC that was in a glass case on the wall. Zelos smiled widely and mischeviously, and tackle-hugged her.

"Aww, Raine, I _knew_ you cared!"

"G-get off!" Raine shouted as she slapped him across the face.

He skidded across the floor until he hit the wall with his head, thus cracking it... the wall, not his head. "Owowowowow..."

Raine smiled a little, and chuckled under her breath. As Zelos stood up from the cracked wall, a scientist walked into the room from the stairs. "Oh, you're here Sheena!"

"Hi! How've you been?" Sheena said happily as she walked up to him.

"You know, same old, same old. In any case, we have that... item that you requested."

"Great. Lead the way."

He nodded, and led the four of them down the stairs into the lab. The same gadgets and gizmos covered the walls and desks of the lab, and papers were scattered every which way. The only tidy thing was the table in the center of the room. It had an intricately-designed case on it, and nothing else. The scientist led them over to it.

"The new weapon is inside this case."

Sheena smiled and said, "Would you like to do the honors, Zelos?"

"Hm? Fine, I'll open it." Zelos said casually, and walked up to it. He undid the two latches on the case, and opened it up. "... What the hell are these things?" He said once he laid eyes on the two black objects in the case. They had rough handles with tubes on the top that went at right angles to them, and had... _triggers_ on them!

"_Those_, Zelos," The scientist man said, "Are magic hand guns."

"They're handy what?" Zelos said with confusion.

Sheena laughed. "You want to test it out at the shooting range outside?"

"Uh, yeah, sure." They made their way through the Academy until they reached a back door. Outside was a large shooting range for archery in P.E. (hey, it _is_ a school). The five of them stood behind the white line on the ground, and Zelos took one of the guns out of the case.

"Now just aim it at one of the targets, and pull the trigger." Mr. Scientist said confidently.

Zelos gave him a dissatisfied look, and aimed at the target, "Okay, but this thing is way to small to--" BOOOOOM! Once he pulled the trigger, a huge blast of light fired out of the barrel of the gun! It quickly went across a distance of fifty meters before it completely annihilated the three foot wide archery target. Zelos let his finger off of the trigger, and the blast stopped. Everyone but him was blown back on the ground from the force of it. "Uhh... well, then," Zelos said with a bewildered look on his face, and frizzy hair.

Sheena threw a glare at Scientist-san, "What the hell was that?"

"W-well, when you gave us the specifications for it, for the energy output, you told us 'as powerful as possible,' so we, uh... Heheh..." He scratched the back of his head.

Zelos turned towards them and said slyly, "Do they come in red?" One of the singed pieces of wood that held up the target fell to the ground, still smoking.

* * *

**Some time later in Altamira:**

"Thanks for the 'present,' Raine!" Zelos said to her once they were back in his room at the resort.

"Well, it's the least I can do for you right now," She said flatly.

Zelos wrapped his arms around her from behind and yelled happily, "You're the best girlfriend ever!"

She laughed and smiled. They stayed like that for awhile before she spoke up, "Don't you have to go and train with Kratos to help get your powers back?"

"Oh, uh, that can wait, can't it?" He squeezed her tighter and lifted her up into the air a few feet.

"S-stop it!" She laughed. He tossed her up, her orange coat flapped this way and that, and Zelos caught her so that she was facing him. They kissed eachother when he set her down with his arms around her waist and hers around his neck. The kiss could have lasted (much) longer if there weren't a knock at the door. Zelos and Raine jumped in surprise, and after Raine had regained her composure and proper heartrate, said, "Who is it?"

"It's me," Kratos' voice sounded from the other side of the door.

"Ah, Kratos!" Zelos said as he opened the door. The only thing that he was met with was a punch in the face, which made him fly ten feet from the door! He spat blood out of his mouth, and rubbed his swollen cheek. "Dude! What the hell?"

"Kratos! What the hell are you doing?" Raine shouted, coming to Zelos' aid.

"He needs to suffer through pain and danger in order to reawaken his angelic abilities," Kratos said flatly, drawing his sword with his trademark 'I'm-_so_-gonna-open-up-a-can-of-whup-ass-on-you' expression on his face. Zelos scrambled to his feet and ran to the table, which had his sword laying on it. Before he could grab it, Kratos crushed the table with a downward sword strike that cut right inbetween Zelos' hand and his sword, leaving a tiny cut on the tip of Zelos' middle finger. The shear force of the attack pushed him back, and he hit the wall so hard that cracks appeared.

Zelos scrambled to his feet and made a dash for the door, "Crap crap crap crap crap crap crap." Kratos teleported in front of him with a flash of light. He still had the 'can-of-whup-ass' expression on his mug. It was only after a few seconds that Zelos noticed the magic circle underneath the auburn-haired angel's feet. "Crap..."

"It would be in your best interest to get out of the room, Raine," Kratos said, and put out his hand towards Zelos.

After a few seconds, Raine yelled, "I'm sorry, Zelos!" and ran to the door.

"Raine, come on, here!" Zelos shouted, and started to run to the back of the room where the balcony was.

When he was roughly halfway there, he heard Kratos yell, "Air Thrust!" Blades of wind started to shoot towards him, blowing him towards the large balcony window while getting cut by the blades.

In the background, someone yelled out, "Permaguard!" and a spikey transparent magic shield appeared around Zelos! He hit the balcony's railing unharmed, though the fancy decorative balcony began to crack.

"Thanks, hon!" Zelos yelled out to Raine. Suddenly, he began to feel himself... sinking? He looked down, and the stone balcony was beginning to crumble! "Crap to the umpteenth power!" He shouted as it fell out from under him. Kratos sprang from where he stood and flew speedily out the window.

"Zelos!" Raine shouted with her arm outstretched towards the Chosen as he fell from the balcony.

Zelos was falling head-first towards the ground from the top floor of the resort. He had his arms across his chest with one hand on his chin. "Well, this is quite a dilemma, now, isn't it? What a turn of events. One minute, I'm kissing my hot half-elf girlfriend, the next, I'm falling down the face of a 200+ floor resort. What a day it's been." Kratos flew down next to him, going the same speed as the Chosen was in his fall. "Oh, hey, Kratos. Can you please carry me safely to the ground?"

"No."

There was a pause... almost as if someone had said something crazy... "WHAT?"

"If you need to rely on others, even with a Cruxis Crystal, then you're less of a man than I thought."

"Hey, now that was just plain uncalled for."

"You want to regain your powers, right? Then do it now, of all times, to save your life. Try to recall the first time you obtained your powers, or of someone in which you want to protect with them. If you can't... well, we'll get to that part on the ground." He stopped in midair, letting Zelos fall. By this time, Zelos was about one third down the face of the resort (seriously, the place was huge!).

"Okay, okay," Zelos said with an annoyed tone. "Let's see, the first time that my powers awakened...?" He recalled at time before he met Lloyd's group when he was out on one of his escapades. On this particular night, he went to meet a girl that lived in a house at the foot of the Fooji Mountains. When he was finished with his... business, he began to make his way back to Meltokio. When he reached the halfway point, he was instantly surrounded by at least fifty monsters, plus or minus ten monsters. He was lucky that he had his sword with him, but was eventually beaten into a corner with an injured leg. That was when he got his wings. It took him less than ten seconds to finish off the remaining monsters. "Yeah, that's how it happened." He looked around at his current state of affairs. "Oky, same freakin' situation, here! C'mon, wings! Appear already!" Despite flailing his arms around and throwing insults towards his nonexistant wings about their mother, for some odd reason, they didn't seem to some. (sarcasm) He was now two thirds of the way down the resort, and the ground was getting ever closer.

"Okay, let's see, something that I want to protect, huh?" He closed his eyes and pictured several important things. _My hunnies? Not now. The world? Not at this particular moment. Regal? Kinda. Lloyd? He can take care of himself. Sheena? Hellz yeah. Presea? Alright. Kratos? I just wanna kill him right now. Collete? She can take care of herself. Genis? Nope. Pietro? Okay. Kate? Hellz yeah. Chocolat? Hellz yeah. Raine?_ It hit him like a ton of bricks, or at least a bonk on the head against the side of the building, which actually happened. It hurt. A lot. "Damn it!" He shouted as he held his head in pain. "Why didn't I think of this sooner? I want to protect Raine, damn it!" The ground was beginning to get even closer. "No, I'm not going to die yet. Not if Raine has to go through the battle against the exphere demon without me! I'm not gonna die just because I couldn't get my wings back!" He smiled, and his body began to glow with a gold light. "That just doesn't sit well with me!" Just before he was to hit the ground like a golden meteorite, he did a flip, and landed on the tile walkway with bent legs. The cement and marble shattered and created a crater as he shot back up the face of the resort, his golden wings brandished for all to see.

Kratos was floating near the top level, where Zelos stopped his ascent. "Well, _that_ took awhile," He said. "You had to fall all the way down to--" He was suddenly met with Zelos' gloved fist punching him in the jaw. He tumbled several yards through the air before he used his wings to stop himself. "Hey!" He held his chin with his hand.

"Payback for earlier, you jackass!" Zelos shouted angrilly, pointing a finger at Kratos. "You realize that if I didn't realize who I wanted to protect, that I'd be dead right now? Huh? Do ya?"

Kratos wiped the blood from his lip, and flew up to Zelos. "Here, you forgot this in the room," he said, and handed Zelos his sword.

"You _made_ me forget it, you ass." Zelos said flatly, and snatched his sword from him. "If you'll excuse me for a minute." He flew towards The broken balcony, and landed inside of the air-thrusted room. "Raine! Are you still in here?" He trudged through the rubble and towards the door to the hallway. Right when he looked down the hall, his eyes laid upon Raine, who was sitting against the wall, hugging her legs. "Hey, Prefessor! I'm fine! See?"

She looked up at him, and let out an enormous sigh of relief, and let her legs straighten out. "I'm glad..."

"Yup! I got my wings back! Cool beans, huh?" He gave her his hand to help her up.

She took his hand, and he pulled her in close. She said, "I'm glad about another thing, too."

"What's that, my gorgeous beauty?"

Raine began to snicker, putting her hand over her mouth in an attempt to mask it. "I-I'm just glad that the plan worked! Ha ha ha!"

"Wh-what?"

"That whole entire bit right there was all planned out." She slyly put a finger on Zelos' lips, "Right down to the kiss..."

"What?" he yelled, his eyes wide with surprise. Raine giggled. "H-hey! That's just not fair!"

"So? I had to use a delayed spell in order to cast perma-guard on you in time. Otherwise, you would probably have been unconscious for the whole fall."

"From when to when? When did you start the cast and delay it?"

"From when we started kissing." She said with her eyes half closed in a sexy kind of way. "You didn't even notice the magic circle, did you?"

"... That's not cool." He pointed a finger at her, making her laugh. "Do you really hate kissing me _that_ much? Are they not exciting enough for you?"

"Oh, no, I love it when we kiss, Zelos. But I'm a woman, and I can multitask. You wouldn't understand" Her personality had at least taken a sharp left ever since she and Zelos became boyfriend and girlfriend. Not that Zelos minded, but... I mean, come on!

Zelos hit his head against the wall several times before he flew back out of the balcony window to let off some steam against Kratos.

* * *

**The next day:**

"Hold up a second, Zelos!" Lloyd shouted as he dodged another white beam from one of Zelos' new (red) magic guns.

"But it's so much fun, isn't it, Bud?" Zelos yelled as he flew after Lloyd. Then, he noticed a small dial on the side of the guns. It had four colors on it: red, blue, white, and yellow. It was set to the white part. "Hm? What's this?" He said, and held one of the guns under his arm as he turned the dial on the other one to blue. "Let's see..." He aimed carefully at Lloyd, and pulled the trigger. A beam of blue energy fired from it, which Lloyd barely managed to dodge. Suddenly, frost appeared on the surface of his clothes that were closest to the blast when he dodged it!

"Gah! This is cold!" Lloyd shouted, and frantically brushed the layer of ice off.

"Holy crap! These things have different settings?" Zelos shouted happily. He turned the dial of the other gun to red, and shot a searing beam of red-hot energy at Lloyd.

"Ack! That's hot!" Lloyd whined as the tips of his hair caught on fire.

"Nice!" Zelos turned it to the yellow color on the dial, and shot a huge lightning bolt!

"Ah! Static!" Lloyd's hair started to stand up even more than it already was. Little jolts of electricity flowed inbetween spikes of hair.

"Oh my god! Ha ha ha!" Zelos was doubled-over laughed, rolling around in midair with the guns in his hands.

"Put those damn things away and let's fight for real, Zelos!"

"What? No way in hell! This is good, clean, ass-kicking family fun, right here! If we serialize these at a lower power setting, we'll make millions!"

Lloyd teleported in front of him and shouted, "Give me those things!" Kratos had taught him that little trick. In fact, Lloyd was better at teleporting than he was! He made a grab for the guns, but Zelos floated just out of his reach, and shot a cold blast at him, point-blank."Gah! Cold! Again!"

Kratos, who was watching them from afar, shook his head in annoyance. Colette had just arrived off in the distance, and began to fly towards Zelos and Lloyd. The 4000 year-old angel could only snort with laughter as he saw Zelos shoot her with a lightning bolt upon her arrival. Both Lloyd and Colette began to chase Zelos through the air, getting bested by Zelos' mad dual-wielding skillz.

"It's almost as if we weren't going into a battle tomorrow..." Kratos said as he avoided a stray shot from Zelos. "Well... at least this qualifies as training. Lloyd and Colette are learning how to dodge better, and Zelos is learning how to control the magics guns, so everything should be fine..." Lloyd tackled Zelos and they began to wrestle in midair. Colette joined in, and the the three of them plummeting to the ground. "...I hope."

In Regal's busy restaurant, some of the cooks were in for a few surprises that day. When Regal was about to open one of the ovens, he saw one of the door signs from the resort that said 'Do not disturb' on it! Curious, he opened the oven, and saw Efreet in his light form!

"Efreet?" Regal yelled, putting a hand in front of his face to shield himself from the heat. "Why in the world are you--"

"I'm resting. Can you not read the sign? It says not to disturb!" Efreet shouted.

"B-but I need to use this oven!"

"Oven? I thought that this was the sauna!"

"Human sauna's don't go up to seven hundred degrees!"

"Then this one does? Awesome. I'll be staying in here for awhile, then."

A vein appeared on Regal's forehead, and he closed the oven. "Stupid spirit..."

"Sir Regal!" One of the chefs said from across the kitchen.

"What is it?"

"We need a leg of a lamb from the freezer, but everyone is working at the moment. Could you be so kind to get it for us?"

"Of course!" Regal walked inbetween the several dozen cooks, spouting orders and directions as he went. Once he got to the freezer, he turned the latch on the large door. A body of cold air washed over him, and he shivered. "It seems colder in here than before..." Around the corner of some boxes, he saw a nice pair of legs, though they weren't a lamb's legs... They were blue. "...Don't tell me..." He walked around the corner, and saw Celsius laying on a beach chair made of ice.

"Oh, if it isn't, uh... Mr. Sheena's friend!" She said happily.

"Why the hell are you in my restaurant's freezer...?"

"Freezer? What's that?"

Regal palmed his face. "Nevermind, I'll be getting my leg of lamb, and then I'll go." He grabbed a huge leg of lamb, heaved it onto his shoulder, and walked out of the freezer.

"Leave the door open, will you? There needs to be nice breeze going; it's starting to get warm in here." Regal hit his head against the steel door, and closed it. He made sure that it was locked tight. "Hello? Mr. Sheena's friend? Are you there?"

* * *

**That night:**

Everything seemed to by quiet that night. The stars twinkled, and the wind rustled... what few trees were left in the woods after the training that day. Over near the entrance to Altamira, Ace was sleeping in a hammock that was strung inbetween two of the remaining trees. Some distance to his right were several craters. They were made while he was practicing the Garen Zesshuugeki. He had mastered it to the point that even Regal was fairly impressed. On the other side of Altamira were craters made from different kinds of forces. Presea and Genis had actually managed a descent practice drill by themselves. Genis would cast his most powerful spell as fast as he could without the help of any accessories, and Presea would dodge all of them. On one occasion, she even managed to dodge all of the strikes from Meteor Storm! With all of these powerful individuals honing their skills, nothing could stop them.

Sheena was gazing out of the balcony window in a long white nightgown that perfectly outlined her voluptuous figure. She had just gotten out of the shower, so her hair was down. Her eyes were half-closed as she stared at the two moons up in the night sky. A long sigh escaped her lips, and she began to trudged towards her bedroom door. _I need to take a walk..._ She thought, and turned the golden handle to the door. The moment she opened it, she saw Lloyd standing with his hand up as if to knock on the door.

"Ah!" They cried out at the same time as they jumped in surprise.

"Lloyd?" Sheena leaned against the doorframe as she recovered from the fright Lloyd just gave her.

"Uh, h-hey, Sheena." Lloyd said nervously, his heart still racing. He was wearing a white tank top and a pair of pajama pants.

"What is it?" She look a deep breath, and stood up straight.

"I was just taking a walk, and I saw light from the crack under your door, so..." They didn't say a word for a few seconds, and just looked at eachother oddly. "So, uh, d'you want to go for a walk?"

Sheena smiled, "Sure." They trudged through the hall and down the stairs. The lobby was empty, so they sat down on some soft couches. Sheena laid on one, and Lloyd sat on another. "Man, this sucks, Lloyd. I'm sleepy and I want to sleep, but for some reason, I can't!"

"Yeah, that was pretty much the case with me." They were silent for a time, and Sheena walked over to his couch. "What is it?"

Sheena wore a strange expression with a combination of sadness and fear. "Lloyd... I'm scared of tomorrow..."

"Scared? What do you need to be scared about? All of the summon spirits are on our side, Zelos got his wings back, and Ace learned that Garen... thing from Regal. I'm not afraid at all."

"But... what if I mess up like I did with Volt? Or almost get killed like I did when I knocked down that piece of the Giant Tree? I always mess up! Nothing's going to change that, Lloyd! There may have been people there to save me when those things happened, but there's no guaruntee that someone will save me again!" She sat next to him in the chair and buried her face in her hands.

Lloyd looked at her, and put an arm around her shoulders. "You don't have to worry about a thing, Sheena. There's one guaruntee about this battle..." Sheena looked up at him. "I'll be there for you no matter what happens."

"Lloyd..." She rested her head on his chest. "Thank you..." She wrapped her arms around him, and they laid on the couch beside eachother for the rest of the night.

* * *

**A/N:** Damn... I didn't get to the violence... I swear to Martel that this fanfic will get to the violent part in the 16th chapter...! Do you hear me, Martel? 

Martel: Yeah, yeah, I hear you.

Me: Thank you! I'll never use your name in vain again! Okay, so the next chapter'll definitely have ass-kicking family fun, okay? Zelos say so!

Zelos: Yuppers! I'll be a-kickin' ass next chappy!

Lloyd, Sheena, Kratos, Colette, Genis, Presea, Regal, Ace, and Raine: Us, too!

Zelos: Yeah, yeah, I hear you. (gets pummeled)

Me: I cross my heart and hope to die a horrible and painful death involving a needle stuck in my eye that I'll put this story arch's final battle all throughout the next chapter! Until next chappy!

**King Kamor**


	16. Eternally, Part 2: Arch Finale

**A/N**: Okay! Here we go! The last chapter in the story arch! Yahoweee!

Celsius: ...The hell was that?

Me: Dunno. Anyway, you ready to go and kick arse, Cel?

Celsius: Of course! After Regal lets me out of the damn freezer!

Regal: It's not your personal room, you know!

Me: Moving on, this chapter will have violence, blood, a bit of gore, some strong language, and probably a sad scene. Reader discretion is advised... Psh, like you guys care, anyway, you just wanna read the (literally) bloody chapter! (Disclaimer: I don't own anything pertaining to the game Tales of Symphonia, just a copy of the game.)

Now, on with it!

* * *

**Chapter 16: Eternally: Part 2**

Everyone was gathered outside the entrance to Altamira. Several rheiards were lined up for those that couldn't fly, and all of the summon spirits were in their light forms above the group of half elves and humans. The sun was just starting to come up over the horizon, and their shadows were cast as long, deformed shapes along the ground.

Kratos stepped out in front of everyone and spoke up. "Everyone, this battle will surely not be our last. It has come to my attention that all of us have been pulled into battles that aren't our business. The battle with Abyssion, the buring of the book of (blank), and even the battle with Mithos, for that matter. I have a feeling that all of your lives will be filled with more battles that aren't your business... but that doesn't mean that you should just ignore them. It's because they aren't your business that you should _make_ them your business. If you think that--"

"Someone did something bad, then kick his/her ass, right?" Zelos interrupted.

Kratos glared at him, but eventually smiled. "More or less."

"All right! Let's go!" Lloyd shouted, and brandished his wings. Colette took out hers, then Zelos, and finally Kratos. Everyone else hopped onto the rheiards, and started them up. All of them shot off in the direction of the Toize Valley Mines. The four angels flew in the lead while the others were on rheiards in a V-like formation, and the lights of the summon spirits were scattered about the rear. They shot through the sky like streaks of light in a night sky.Pietro, Kate, and Chocolat were left by the entrance to Altamira.

"Will they be alright?" Chocolat asked weakly to nobody in particular.

"I hope so..." Pietro said solemnly. At first he wore a frown, but he eventually managed to smile, "I don't think that we should worry. They were able to unite the worlds, remember?"

"That's true," Kate said, "They _are_ very powerful, but even so..."

"Even so?"

"They are still human..."

* * *

**At the Toize Valley Mine:**

"Is everyone ready?" Lloyd asked as he drew his Material Blades from their sheethes. They were at the mouth of the mines. Everyone nodded in response, and drew their weapons. "Okay, let's go!"

They were about to charge in when all of them suddenly heard a voice in their heads saying 'Don't go in there!'

"Origin? Where've you been? Why can't we go in?" Lloyd said.

"Origin, what is the meaning of this?" Kratos asked sternly.

'The demon is no longer in the mines. I can sense that it is no longer waiting for you.'

"What? Then where is it?" Lloyd yelled.

"Right behind you," A chilling, yet familiar voice sounded from the opposite direction of the mine. Everyone whirled around to see the demon mere paces away. All of them suddenly got chills up their spines from the mere sight of it. "What's wrong? Aren't you going to come at me?" It took a step closer to them, and they all took a step back. Even the summon spirits, now in physical form, seemed afraid of it. "Come now, you came all this way just to back down at the very sight of me? How pathetic..."

Lloyd suddenly shouted out, "We're not going to run away! We're going to beat you into the ground! Right, everyone?" After a few seconds, everyone smiled and nodded their heads.

After seeing their sudden new resolve, the exphere demon said, "Then you'll attack? Good. This'll give me a decent exercise." It stretched it's arms and legs. "Especially that overlly-boring town that I just attacked.

"WHAT?" Lloyd shouted with rage. "What village was it?"

"I'm not sure, but you wouldn't recognize it if you were to look at it, since it's nothing but a wasteland now."

"You insane bastard!" Zelos shouted, standing next to lloyd.

"I'll allow you the first strike, so you don't complain about being caught off-guard."

Lloyd gritted his teeth, and was aboutto attack when Sheena whispered in his ear, "Calm down, we'll go to the village when this is finished. Making you angry could be a trap, you know."

Lloyd whispered back, "It could, but it's not going to strike first, so if we're going to start a battle, then we need to attack right now."

"Alright" Sheena said, and turned towards the battalion of summon spirits behind her. All of them nodded their heads. "Okay, everyone!" She thrust a finger towards the demon. "CHAAAAAARGE!" Sylph flew towards the exphere demon first. The three small summon spirits began to fly in circles around the creature at high speeds. A cyclone that was even larger than Genis' began to swirl around the exphere demon, making it float into the air. Trees and bushes and even chunks of earth began to get caught up in the tornado. Yutis began to fire arrow after arrow as she continued to circle around the monster, hitting it from all sides. Sephie got in close and let out a long flurry of sword strikes from all sides while circling it. Yutis and Sephie flew out of the twister, and the winds began to die down slightly. Fairess suddenly began to fall down towards the exphere demon from the center of the whirlwind high in the sky. With the winds still swirling around, she began to spin as she fell to the ground with her shield facing down. Green magic swirled around her as she grinded down on the exphere demon with her shield, and plowed it into the ground with a powerful outward shockwave. Fairress jumped out of the small crater, and dust billowed out of it. 

Sheena and everyone else shielded themselves from the shockwave. She shouted, "Don't let up! Keep attacking!" Suddenly, Gnome came bursting out of the crater with the demon skewered on the tip of his shovel. Spires of upturned earth flew every which way, and Gnome pounded his shovel into the ground with the demon still on it. It slid off of the shovel, and Gnome jumped back as Undine forced a huge geyser of water out of the ground underneath it. She then used water from the nearby ocean to create two more geysers of water that flowed like rivers above the demon, and then poured down on top of it like a giant waterfall. Once the water began to settle, the demon fell back to the earth. It was nothing but a mangled, glowing mass of what one could only guess used to be in the form of a human.

Just as it hit the ground, Shadow emerged from nearby shade and approached it. Several dozen spears of dark magic appeared around the demon, and a magic circle appeared underneath it. "Crumble..." All of the magic lances shot at the demon from different directions in a much larger version of Bloody Lance. At least fifty small craters appeared on the ground around the demon as they skewered it from all sides. The demon fell to the ground as what looked like a heap of glowing much.

"Stop!" Sheena shouted to the second wave of summon spirits. She looked on at the glowing mass on the ground.

"Did that do it...?" Ace asked himself. He was sitting up in a tree that was a little further away from the battle than everyone else. "I'd be shocked if it didn't. That was... Amazing!"

Lloyd squinted his eyes so that he could see what was left of the demon more clearly. His eyes suddenly widened. "Sheena! Keep attacking it with the spirits! It's still alive!" He took out his wings and readied the Material Blades. Everyone else followed what he did by readying their weapons.

"What?" Sheena yelled with surprise, looking over at Lloyd. Right when she was about to give the order to the summon spirits to attack, there was a black blur out of the corner of her eye. When she turned her head, all that she saw was a pitch black fist crash into the side of her head! "Ahhh!" She fell to the ground and skidded along the earth.

"Summoner!" Luna yelled worriedly.

Sheena stopped skidding along the ground, and was about to pick herself up when someone behind her said, "Is this truly the full extent of the power of a Mizuho shinobi?" She turned her head only to find that the exphere demon had somehow gotten behind her! _It's so fast!_ She thought with terror, and quickly attempted to place a Judgement guardian on it. It disappeared and said from behind her, "Come now, you'll have to do better than this!" Before Sheena could turn around, it transformed it's right arm into a blade and slashed across her back! She coughed up blood, and fell forward onto the ground.

"Sheena!" Lloyd shouted, and flew towards them. "Dad! Zelos! Colette! you know what to do!" The other three angels followed behind him. Lloyd's swords began to swirl with wind power.

"Everyone!" Zelos shouted back to the others that were left behind. "The plan's gone to hell! Get out of here!" His sword began to glow with lightning power, as did Kratos' sword. Colette began to chant the incantation for Holy Song. A wave of power swept through everyone in the area accept the demon. Lloyd was about to stab the exphere demon when it picked up Sheena by the neck and held her between itself and the angels.

"What the--" Lloyd broke of the attack and darted to the side to avoid hitting Sheena. Everyone else did the same, and passed right by the demon. "That's dirty!" Lloyd shouted.

"Sneaky prick!" Zelos exclaimed with a vein bulging from his forehead in frustration.

"You're a coward for taking a hostage like that! Let her go!"

The demon made it's odd "smile" and said devilishly, "She's proven useful thus far, so I see no reason not to use her as a shield." Sheena tried to pry the demon's fingers off of her neck, but to no avail. The harder she tried, the tighter it grasped her throat. After a few seconds of tightening it's grip, she began to cough and choke!

"Sheena!" Lloyd shouted, and flew towards the demon with his swords at the ready.

"Right behind ya, Bud!" Zelos shouted as he trailed behind Lloyd, pulling out his magic guns.

"The result will be the same, you know," The demon said, and held Sheena up as a shield again. She was still coughing and choking, but more violently that before. Once she managed to open her eyes, she saw Lloyd coming towards her with anger in his eyes. _Is he really going to do it...?_ She thought, and closed her eyes. Lloyd flew in front of Zelos in such a way that the demon couldn't see what Zelos was doing in his flight, and Lloyd flew right past Sheena and slashed at the demon with the Vorpal Sword. The demon casually batted the blade out of the way with it's hand, and grabbed Lloyd by the throat. "A futile effort. Valiant, but still futile..." Lloyd choked, but, for some reason, smiled!

A blast of light magic suddenly obliterated the demon's entire upper body, and severed it's arms! "Get Sheena outta there, Lloyd!" Zelos shouted from off to the side.

"Right!" Lloyd yelled, and ripped the demon's arm off of his neck, and did the same with Sheena. He picked her up with one hand on the back of her head and the other behind her knees, and flew away from the demon as fast as he could. Once he was a good distance away from the demon, he laid her down. "Sheena! Talk to me! Are you alright?" She didn't respond. "Grrrr... Professor!" The half-elf healer was already on her way there at top speed.

The demon regenerated it's head and said, "How irritating. It was sure to be a short battle if I had kept her, but..." It turned it's head towards Zelos, "You had to interfere, didn't you...?"

Zelos shrugged with a smile, "Hey, I had to help my bud and his girlfriend, right?"

"Human emotions are insignificant..." It put out it's hand a magic circle appeared in front of it.

"What the--?" Zelos yelled as he dodged a dozen icicles from a Freeze Lancer spell. "Since when are you able to cast spells?"

"I see no need to tell you. You seem to have gained your powers again, so I should kill you now before you pull another stunt like that again..." It put out it's arm towards Zelos again, and this time as huge Spiral Flare shot out of it! Acting quickly, Zelos switched both guns to the fire setting by hitting them against eachother, and held the barrels close together as he fired them. His two blasts created one blast that was just as large as Spiral Flare. The two blasts hit eachother with equal power, and exploded on contact, leaving a small crater. "Tsk. I'm wasting my time with you..."

"Oh, yeah, about that, I also had to distract you until now! Ain't that funny?" The Chosen let out a laugh.

"What are you talking about?" Behind the demon, Kratos and Colette had just finished casting Judgement. The two of them shouted out the spell, and almost thirty beams of light showered down from the heavens! It looked up and said, "It's only a trifling spell. I can just dodge all of these blasts easily." Zelos shot a blast of fire magic at it's legs, vaporizing them.

"And if you can't take a step?" He flew away from the demon just before it was absolutely pummeled by both of the Judgement spells! "Aw, yeah!" He shouted, and began to glow with the power of his overlimit. Once the last bolt of light magic hit the demon, he rushed in with his guns at the ready, as did the other two angels with their weapons ready to stike. The demon, who was in the center of the new mass of craters, was busy regenerating itself when Zelos hot another blast of light right through it's newly-reformed torso, leaving a gaping hole in it's chest. It growled in frustration and extended it's arms at the three angels. Zelos shot at the one that came at him, Colette dodged hers, and Kratos cut his in half.

"Like pesky little flies, aren't you?" The demon said as a looming dark figure came up from behind it.

"Let's see what you think of us after _this_!" Regal shouted, and punched the demon across the face. It staggered back with it's head reeling back. Ace dashed behind it and kicked it in the back, making it fly towrads Regal again. The two of them were pummeling it from both sides with glowing fists.

"GAREN..." They said at the same time as the kicked the demon into the air. They jumped up after it and did at least another ten kicks apiece at the demon before they let it fall back to earth. Their feet started to glow with golden power, and they shot down towards the demon. "ZESSHUUGEKI!" Just before they kicked the demon into the ground, it put up it's arms and _stopped_ their kicks!

"What the--?" Ace yelled as the demon flung him towards a large tree, which he crashed into, breaking it in half. Regal was sent flying the opposite way into the nearby ocean.

The blue-haired martial artist swam to the surface and shouted, "Damn it! Ace, are you alright?" There was no answer from the young man.

The demon brushed some dirt off of it's shoulder and said cooly, "They thought that that would kill me? Imbeciles." It the noticed Presea and Genis running towards it. Presea had her Gaia Cleaver ready to split the demon in half, and Genis was already casting a spell. "Now children want to be part of this war?" With a cry, Presea brought her axe down onto the demon. "Futile." It said as it dodged the axe easily.

She ripped the axe out of the ground, throwing rocks and debris out at it, which hit it hard. The demon staggered back, Presea jumped up and did a flip in the air, and brought her axe down on it's head with her eyes sealed shut with rage. She felt it hit something, and follow through whatever she hit. _Yes!_ She thought. Once she looked at what kind of damage she had delt. "Impossible..." Presea uttered with horror.

The demon stood above her, holding half of the axe's blade in it's hand. "You have even more arrogance than the young man over there casting his spell!" Genis, who had just finished casting Explosion, gasped as the demon appeared in front of him.

"Aaugh!" Theyoung half-elf screamed as he was hit in the face by the demon. He, however, smiled as he hit the ground twenty feet away.

"What?" The fire magic for Explosion was falling towards itt! It made an attempt to jump out of the way, but someone from the sidelines shouted, "Photon!" And it's movements were sealed just long enough for it to be hit by Genis' spell! "Gyaaaaa!" The huge explosion it created spread towards Genis! He was about to be hit when Presea, without her axe, jumped next to him, put his arm around her shoulder, and carried him away before the ground underneath them was obliterated. The fire magic was so intense that even Raine, who was a fair distance from it, had to shield herself from it's heat.

Once the fire and smoke finally cleared, everyone looked into the huge crater from different sides of it with awe. Genis had never cast such a powerful Explosion spell before, and never before had he created such a large crater. The very center of the crater was what looked like a sizzling black ooze with waves of heat emenating from it. Lloyd was kneeling down at the edge of the crater, examining the boiling black puddle with his angel eyes. He didn't notice any kind of regeneration going on. Raine was standing next to him, resting on her staff.

"Professor..." Lloyd said monotonously as his wings disappeared.

"Yes?" Raine responded.

"How's Sheena doing?" He stood up and walked over to the summoner with Raine. The summon spirits were already with Sheena, and let the two of them through the crowd of them once they arrived. Lloyd looked down at Sheena. She was still laying uncnscious on the ground, and a small puddle of blood was around the cut on her back.

"I was only able to cast the basic healing spells during battle, but I'll be able to heal her now that the fighting has stopped." She knelt down next to Sheena and put her staff over her. The staff began to glow, and the cuts and scrapes from the fall began to disappear.

As she was healing, Maxwell floated down from above and said, "I'll help."

Lloyd looked up in surprise, "But I thought that your powers couldn't heal wounds made by the exphere demon?"

"Even so, I'll try my best in healing pact-maker Sheena." Maxwell's molecular energy floated down onto Sheena, and the blood began to flow back into the gash on her back, and the skin closed over it in an instant. A scar was all that there was left. There was a silence amonst the summon spirits, half-elf, and angel as they watched to see if that had done the trick.

Sheena suddenly opened her eyes wide and sat up, panting loudly and clutching her throat. "L-Lloyd?" She said once she saw him.

Lloyd wrapped his arms around her, and said, "You're alright... you're alright..."

"Lloyd..." She said with a soft smile, and hugged him back. Raine and the summon spirits let out sighs of relief and smiled. The couple stood up hand in hand.

"LLOYD! SHEENA!" They heard Zelos shout. They jerked their attention in the direction of the crater to see several large black tentacles lashing out at those who stayed behind! "We need help! Get over here! It's still alive, damn it!" He shot all over the place at the tentacles only to have them regenerate in an instant.

"Damn it!" Lloyd shouted, and took out his wings. He shot towards the crater with the Material Blades ready.

"Let's go, everyone!" Sheena yelled to the summon spirits, and they rushed back to the crater. Efreet instantly cast Explosion at the ceneter of the crater, scattering bits and pieces of the demon about the battlefield. It regenerated in less than a second! Maxwell and Volt cast Indignation and Meteor Storm, but the demon evaded indignation's area of effect, and dodged all of the blasts fro meteor Storm! Aska and Luna both cast Holy Lance at the same time, and skewered the demon on ten lances of light. The demon broke them and ripped them out of itself!

"You think that you can ever kill me with attacks like these?" The demon shouted, and made an attempt to strike at the summon spirits of light with a tentacle, but they both teleported out of the way with Sheena in tow.

Celsius sprinted right down the slope of the crater. "I've had enough of this!" Celsius shouted as light blue magic gathered at her hands.

"Another summon spirit to fail at killing me?" The demon shouted, and shot several tentacles at Celsius. She did several acrobatic skills to dodge them, and was right in front of the demon.

"It's over!" She shouted as she thrust her fist into the ground. The demon was instantly frozen with a foot-thick layer of ice, and ice spires as large as several Stalagmite spells stabbed it and shot it into the air.

The demon then regenerated yet again and shouted, "ENOUGH!" It floated in midair and spread out it's arms and legs. At least a hundred long, whip-like extensions shot out of it's body and tore across the battlefield, destroying anything in their path. Regal and Ae tried to dode and hit away the whips, but their defenses were easily overwelmed, and they were both beaten into unconsciousness. Raine cast Permaguard on herself, but the whips simply broke right through the spikey barrier, and shattered it! She, too, was beaten almost to death. Genis and Presea were defending themselves against the whips as best they could, but they were soon overtaken. Sheena was sitting on Aska's back, presumably safe. It's two heads snapped any whips that came near, but three came right for them, distracting the two heads, and hitting Sheena off! As she fell down, anothe dozen whips hit her until she hit the ground.

"Sheena!" Celsius shouted, "We're sorry! If we stay here, we'll all be destroyed!" She ran back up to the top of the crater, using her ice magic to protect herself, and picked up Sheena. Each summon spirit picked up one of the warriors, and flew away from the battlefield. They all had already gone as far as the horizon.

Lloyd was still fighting off the whips when he heard Origin say, 'Lloyd, you need to retreat with the others.'

"No! Not yet!" He shouted as he batted away a dozen whips using Sword Rain. "I can still fight!"

'Lloyd, if four angels never stood a chance, then what kind of chance do you have against it?'

"I don't know, but I'll find something that I can do to defeat it!"

'That's ludicrous! You'll be killed just as easily as everyone was beated half to death!'

"Shut up, Origin!" Lloyd slashed another group of whips that came towards him, and teleported right in front of the demon. "Rabid Beast!" He shouted, and teleported all around the demon, using Beast on the demon each time he teleported. It was hit back and forth between Lloyd's attacks until he finally used one large Beast attack to hit it from above.It shot towards the ground, but Lloyd teleported yet again below it, and hit it back up with another Beast attack. The demon flew back into the air, and Lloyd intercepted it with another teleportation. "Storming Rain!" He stabbed it a dozen times with his right sword, then switched to another dozen with his other sword. Then he kicked it several times in the stomach, and did a long string of thrusts with both swords at the same time. Lloyd finally broke off the attack, and let the demon fall to the ground.

Lloyd panted hard and sweated as he floated in the air above the demon. His grip on his swords was slipping slightly. "How was that, Origin?"

'Impressive, but not nearly enough to kill it. You should know that by now, Lloyd.' Origin said sternly.

Lloyd smiled. "In that case, lend me your power. Before it starts regenerating again."

'Very well...' The Flamberge and Vorpal Sword began to float into the air, and they merged into the Eternal Sword. The angel grabbed the hilt and shot down at the demon, who had just started regenerating.

A magic circle appeared underneath Lloyd as he landed, with the demon well within range, and magic began to swirl around Lloyd. The energy started to tear the demon apart. "I'll show you…" Lloyd said as a wave of power burst upward from the ground, hitting the demon into the air a little bit. "Devine Justice!" The Eternal Sword glowed as he brought it down on the demon, and another powerful wave of power came up from the ground in the shape of an X. Once the magic had stopped tearing at the monster, Lloyd jumped back.

"That had to have done it, right?" Lloyd said as he collapsed onto one knee from exhaustion. There was nothing but a puddle left of the demon, just like before.

'It's hard to tell…' Origin paused, and then suddenly shouted, 'Look out! It's--' But it was too late. Lloyd was hit hard from behind by the demon. It had dug underground, regenerated, and attacked him!

"How many times do I have to tell you fools that you will never kill me?" The exphere demon shouted.

Lloyd skidded along the ground, dropping the Eternal Sword, and crashed into another tree. Blood drizzled down the side of his head, and he felt one of his ribs crack when he hit the tree. He was a complete mess. His wings soon disappeared. "Origin..?" Lloyd managed to utter before he passed out.

* * *

Lloyd was sitting in what looked like a black void. Everything around him was pitch black, yet he could still see himself. "What's going on?" He said to himself. He then felt pain in his head and chest, and held each with his hands. "..That's right.. I was defeated by the exphere demon, wasn't I?" He chuckled a little. "I'm suck an idiot. Why did I have to insist on staying behind? I knew that I'd be beaten like this.." A sigh escaped his mouth. "I'm really gonna die this time, aren't I?" 

"Oh, come on, Lloyd," A voice from in front of him sounded. "You're pathetic. Why do you think that my crystal merged with your exphere? So that you could accomplish your own dreams where mine failed!"

Lloyd looked up to see a boy with blond hair, blue eyes, and white clothing. "M... Mithos?"

"No, it's the Wonder Chef. Of course it's me, you idiot! And I'm here to set you straight. I gave you four thousand years worth of angelic powers after my death so that you'd be the most powerful angel to ever exist. You have all of my powers, yet you haven't even figured_ that_ out yet, you dolt!"

"I have all of your powers?" Lloyd said confusedly.

"Yeah, and if you die right now without ever employing the powers I gave you, then I'll beat you to a pulp in the afterlife. You hear me?" The half-elf shook his clenched fist at Lloyd.

He looked at Mithos, and then back at the black ground in which he sat. "I guess that you have a point… It'd be really pointless to die without using the full extent of my abilities."

Mithos smiled, "Good call, shadow of mine." He gave Lloyd his outstretched hand, which he gladly took. Once Lloyd was standing up, he found the Eternal Sword in his hand. "Now," Mithos' voice sounded, "Go and save your friends. If you can do at least that much, then I just might not beat you half to death after you come over to this side. Until then, I'll be waiting."

* * *

**Real far from the battlefield:**

"...Where's Lloyd...?" Sheena asked as Celsius laid the summoner down on the ground.

"Don't talk, Sheena," the summon spirit of ice said sternly. "If you move, you'll just be in more pain. You have several broken bones, and Raine is still unconscious. Maxwell already treated everyone's external wounds, but it's up to Raine to repair the broken bones."

Sheena turned her head to her left to see almost everybody else laid out on the ground. Beyond them, she saw Kratos, Zelos, and Colette looking off in the destance. "What are they looking at...?" She asked Celsius.

The blue-skinned spirit glanced at the angels and said, "Lloyd is still fighting the exphere demon. You can see the lights, even from here."

Over where the angels were standing, Zelos said, "Would you look at that... that's a sight to remember..." Off in the distance, beams of light magic shot through the sky like search lights, followed by several flashes of different-colored lights from what seemed to be several different kinds of magic cast all at once.

"To think that he's holding his own, even after it had gotten stronger from surviving through that battle..." Kratos said with an almost dumbfounded expression on his face.

"Oh, that's right," Colette remembered, "Whenever is survives an injury, it gets that much stronger. Right?"

"Pret-ty much, Colette," Zelos replied. "But after all that, if must've gotten twice as strong as when we lost to it before."

"This thought came to me, as well," Kratos added, "But what could have caused such a power difference in Lloyd, as well? By all rights, he should have died by now, and the demon should have come or us."

"No." Colette said sternly, "Lloyd is really strong! He'll beat that thing!"

Both Kratos and Zelos looked at her with surprise, and then smiled. "We can only hope that you're right, hon," Zelos said, turning back to watch the lights.

* * *

**Outside of the Toize Valley Mines:**

The demon and Lloyd clashed in the air once more with a flash of light. They broke off and Lloyd shot several beams of light out of his right hand, completely destroying the demon's arm from the shoulder down. The demon held it's arm, and seemed to have trouble regenerating it. It bellowed, "Where did all of your improvement come from? While you're unconscious, no less!"

Lloyd stared coldly at the demon. His wings were now completely white, and a faint glow emenated from his eyes. "Blame the one who split the worlds. That guy's so persistent that he even haunts me in my dreams."

The demon finished regenerating it's arm, and tested it by opening and closing it's hand. It felt that something was missing. It looked down at it's arm to see that the tips of all of it's fingers were missing! "No..."

"So, it looks like there's a limit to how much you can regenerate. You can't stand a constant attack on the same place for a long time, and your body starts to fail!" He pointed the Eternal Sword at the demon.

The demon actually began to sweat. _Where did his powers of observation come from all of a sudden? From what that Chosen's Cruxis Crystal told me, he's a complete fool!_ Lloyd dashed at the demon, appearing behind it almost instantly, and stabbed it through the back. "Augh!"

"It ends here, demon..." Lloyd said with a cruel tone. The Eternal Sword, still in it's gut, began to glow, and a steam-like energy floated out of the swordsman.

The demon panicked. "N-no! If you kill me, all of the souls of the expheres will be set free, never able to live in this world again! You don't want that, do you?"

Lloyd's eyes wrinkled in hatred at the demon, "I think they'd rather not be used as tools for a wandering spirit's selfish needs! I'm sure they'll take their chances in the afterlife!" Lloyd shouted, and the light from the Eternal Sword grew ever brighter. The demon let out a scream that pierced the ears of even the other angels on the far-off island. The light began to spread throughout the demon's body from where it was stabbed. The light shined so bright that it would have been mistaken for a star in the sky. "You'll never hurt a single soul again..." The angel reached inside the demon's back as the light grew to it's brightest. "Disappear..." He clenched his fist inside the demon, and it's body exploded into hundreds of tiny fragments of light. They floated down like leaves in autumn, and the Eternal Sword fell apart into the Flamberge and Vorpal Sword.

A time passed with Lloyd simply standing there. By the time the last fragment fell to the ground, the other three angels had flown back to the battlefield. Zelos was carrying Sheena in his arms. Kratos and Colette landed next to Lloyd.

"Are you okay, Lloyd?" Colette asked desperately.

Lloyd turned towards her, and smiled as his white wings disappeared. "I'm fine."

Sheena, with Zelos' help, trudged over to Lloyd. "Lloyd..." She stumbled over to him, and fell into his arms."

"I'm proud of you, Lloyd," Kratos said, putting a hand on his son's shoulder.

"Another score for us, huh, Bud?" Zelos said in his usual care-free tone. "I'm sure that all of those people in the expheres would have thanked you if they were here."

Lloyd smiled, and looked up into the sky as a strong wind picked up the glowing fragments. They flowed through the air and towards the ocean. "...I've already been thanked..."

* * *

**A.N:** The longest chapter yet! Not to mention the longest freakin battle scene I've ever written! My goal was for everyone in the group to try and fail at killing the demon, and then have something really badass happen. I hope that I pulled that off efficiently, and I hope that you guys'll look forward to the endless fluff in the rest of the story! I'm really pumped now that this arch is over. Hell, I could go for another ten chapters if I wanted to!... Okay, maybe not, but this fanfic is still far from over, and neither is the group's vacation! Review with consctructive criticism, and I'll love you forever. 

**King Kamor**


	17. Party Time!

**A/N:** And now for the aftermath, biatch! Honestly, though, I wish that you guys commented more. I need more than one or two people commenting per chapter, especially after that huge battle that I put my very soul into! (No offense, RoyalFanatic!) My hands cramped to no end after I finished it! I'm not kidding this time, either! I was in real, physical, painful pain after I wrote the first two thirds of that battle! And then I had to finish it and add an abhorent amount of tiny details as I cleaned it up...

Me: 'Kay, now that that's out of my system, welcome back to The Silence After the Storm, now with the last several chapters with fluff and romance scenes! I may even add a drunk scene or three. (heheheh...)

Celsius: Aw, come on! I liked the fighting!... Though we all got our arses kicked-- but that's besides the point!

Regal: Indeed, I got chucked into the ocean and broke my hand!

Ace: Hey, I crashed into a fracking tree!

Lloyd: I crashed into a _bunch_ of trees!

Everyone: But the main character almost never dies!

Lloyd: Eep...

Me: Okay, time to get cracking! (cracks knuckles).

Celcius: ...That's _so_ cliched...

Now, on with it!

* * *

**Chapter 17: Party Time!  
**

The celebration of the group's victory lasted for quite a long time... it had just pushed three weeks. Zelos just _had_ to bring out the drinks, and Ace just _had_ to turn out to like drinking contests. The group's party was mainly in Lloyd's room with bean bags and pillows placed around a wide, circular, low-to-the-ground table. Every night throughout those three weeks was indeed fun, but...

"I can't cook with a broken hand!" Regal shouted to Zelos when the Chosen, now drunk, asked him again to make them some of his famous beef stew. Regal had crushed one of his hands in the battle, and it was still healing, despite Raine's treatment.

"Aw, sure you can! Just use your feet!" Zelos yelled, and Raine laughed. They were both sitting in the same pink bean bag, and Raine had her arms draped over his shoulders. Zelos had one hand around her waist and the other hand holding a wine glass with the now-infamous Flanoir Snow Tear, which they both drank profusely. Both of them were already, to put it mildly, kinda drunk.

"No! Don't let 'im!" Ace yelled. "I had to actually eat food he's made with 'is feet!"

"Was it any good?" Raine asked, resting her head on Zelos' chest. Everyone looked at him, waiting for his answer.

"It's even better than the food he makes with his hands!" Everyone howled with laughter, even Regal.

"Someone! Stop Presea! She's sleepwalking or something!" Genis shouted as he ran into the room with the girl following closely behind with her axe flailing about. The closest person to Genis was Kratos, who was asleep, sprawled out on a large bean bag, scratching his stomach and drooling. "You idiot! Help me or something!" The half-elf shouted, and thwapped Kratos in the head with his kendama, but was quickly chased away by Presea once again.

"Hung?" Kratos mumbled as he awoke and casually wiped the drool from his chin.

Chocolat, who was clearly the most drunk of them all, ran up to Kratos, "Kratos! You're so hawt!" She attempted to glomp him, but the angel quickly put up his foot, and conveniently placed it in her face. Chocolat slumped to the floor with his boot-print on her face.

Still kind of sleepy, Kratos said dowzily, "Honestly, can't a guy get some shut-eye at a party?"

Zelos wailed with laughter, slapping his knee, and yelled over to Chocolat from the other side of the table, "What th' hell wuzzat, Chocolat? Face-to-foot style?" She had apparently fallen asleep after she fell to the floor, and a bubble inflated and deflated from her nose.

Halfway around the table, Pietro and Kate were talking, both very drunk with flushed cheeks. "So I thought," Pietro started, "that what if we're actually just data? And that we're just being controlled by whoever made us? For all we know, our actions could be judged by some fanboy or fangirl with a plastic controller! Some other fanboy might even be judging what we're doing in some random fan-made piece of crap!" (A/N: Hey!)

There was a pause.

"You're so philisophical, Pietro!" Kate yelled like a rabid fangirl, and glomped Pietro, wrapping her arms around his neck. The two of them fell back off of his bean bag and laughed.

Away from where all of the action was taking place, Lloyd was laying his head on Sheena's lap, since he hit his head on the floor earlier when he tried to dive onto his bean bag. The both of them had red in their cheeks from when Zelos forced alcohol down their throats earlier. Why did they always let him off so easily? Either way, they were also a little tipsy. "Man, I'll never do _that_ again." He said groggily.

Sheena giggled, "Yes you will."

He laughed, and said with a smile, "Yeah, you're probably right." He managed to sit up this time without feeling dizzy.

"I'm always right."

Lloyd turned to her, "Are not."

"Are too."

"Are not."

"Are too."

They paused, looking at eachother with equal determination to win the arguement.

"Want to just drop it?" Sheena asked.

"'Kay. Let's join the others. It looks like my dad's stopped Presea's little rampage."

"Sure." The two of them stood up and walked over the the circle of bean bags and sat down next to eachother.

Zelos and Raine were laughing at another one of Aces jokes when they noticed Lloyd and Sheena coming their way. "Hey, Bud! join us!" Zelos yelled, holding up his wine glass.

"That's just what we were doing," Lloyd said as he sat down next to Sheena.

Kratos sat up just as the couple sat down. "That's enough partying for me tonight. I'm going to bed in the lobby."

"Why the lobby, dad?" The other swordman asked.

"That's the only place that I won't be able to hear those of you who just don't know when to quit." He trudged out of the room, attempting to hide the fact that he was indeed drunk, and in for a rude awakening the next morning.

Zelos looked from Kratos and back at the couple, and then over at Pietro and Kate, who were just starting to pick themselves up from their fall. A smile more sly than any of his previous sly smiles spread across Zelos' face. "Pietro! Lloyd!" The two who were called faced him questioningly. "We already know that the four of you guys are couples, so now that Kratos is gone, just do what everyone here wants to see." Everyone in the room, including a waking Chocolat, turned their attention over to the two couples. "Kiss!"

Lloyd, Sheena, Pietro, and Kate all blushed furiously.

"Not in front of everyone!" Lloyd shouted, standing up.

"Yeah! That'd be stupid!" Sheena added.

"Our thoughts exactly!" Pietro and Kate yelled at the same time.

"Aw, c'mon! Don't be embarrassed!" Zelos chuckled. "Kids these days."

"The two of us are older than you are!" Pietro yelled.

Lloyd's expression suddenly went from embarrassed to surprised and finally to scheming. "I say..." Everyone looked over at him. "We all see you and the Professor kiss first!"

Raine spat out the wine that she had just sipped. "Lloyd!" She whined.

"Nope, the younger couple has to kiss first," Zelos said cooly.

"Everyone knows that the middle couple has to go first!" Sheena shot back.

"Who made up that rule? The oldest couple goes first."

"Who made up _that_ rule?" Kate yelled. "You suggested this whole thing, so you and Raine go first!"

"Then you'll do it?"

_He's good..._ Pietro thought grimly.

"Ugh. Fine, we'll do it, but only if you and Raine kiss." Sheena grumbled. _I wanna go hoooooooome..._ She thought.

"Zelos, let's just drop the whole thing," Raine said, her cheeks redder than Zelos' hair.

The Chosen thought for a moment. A thought seemed to come to him, and he laughed inwardly. "Eh, fine. If these guys are so chicken, then--"

Sheena slammed an angry hand on the table. "We are _not_ chicken!"

"Uh, Sheena?" Lloyd said with a foreboding feeling.

"Oh? Then prove it." Zelos said with an evil smile.

_... Almost _too _good..._

Everyone's eyes were on them. Sheena only just realized what she'd just done, and began to sweat out of nervousness. _Crap..._ was all that went through her mind. She stood up and faced Lloyd. Their hands touched, and they began to blush. The hesitated.

"C'mon, Bud! Kiss 'er!" Zelos shouted, thrusting his fist into the air.

"Kiss the girl!" Ace yelled along with the Chosen. The couple's lips grew closer, and closed their eyes.

"Go! Go! Go! Go!" Genis chanted... He apparently drank a bit, as well.

Regal was just smiling as the commotion built to a climax. The couple finally kissed eachother deeply. Woops, shouts, and whistling was to be heard throughout the room. Lloyd and Sheena broke the kiss, and looked at eachother so as not to make eye-contact with anyone else.

Zelos clapped his hands together and laughed. "That was pretty good, for you guys, anyway." They shot glares at him and sat back down with dark red faces. "Now that we know who's not chicken, time for the other couple to kiss!" He thrust a finger towards Pietro and Kate.

The slightly-older couple sighed, and faced eachother. "May as well get this over with." Pietro said nervously.

Kate smiled, and put her hands on his cheeks. "Just hush." She kissed him deeply, and the wooping and whistling were renewed for their good, long kiss.

Once they were done, everyone turned towards Raine and Zelos with eager eyes. The Chosen put his drink down on the table and said, "Ladies and gentlemen! Time for the moment you've all been waiting for! The Great Zelos Wilder will now kiss the Gorgeous Beauty Raine Sage!"

"We know that already, so get on with it!" Lloyd yelled with a smile.

The Chosen smiled and put an arm around Raine, and she wrapped her arms around his neck. Once the two of them kissed, the cheers started for the third time with about the same level as with the last two.

As the lot of them were having fun and enjoying themselve, a certain blond-haired girl was just outside the door, sitting against the wall and hugging her legs close to her chest. If one were to listen carefully enough, what sounded like sobbing could be heard from her.

* * *

**That morning:**

Zelos was asleep on top of the circular table with his pink jacket draped over his face. Genis was half underneath a big blue beanbag and half out. His face was buried in the carpet with his kendama resting beside him. Everyone else was sleeping, for the most part, peacefully on the bean bags. Pietro and Kate were, of course, sleeping in the same large red bean bag. Lloyd and Sheena were particularly comfortable. Sheena was laying on top of him with her hair-tie out and pink ribbon/obi thingy taken off, showing the majority of the skin-tight black clothing underneath the blue garb. Lloyd had his gloves and shirt off, wearing only his pants and a white undershirt.

The sun had just broken the horizon, and everyone stirred when the light went through the balcony window, which was conveniently placed right where the sunrise was. Lloyd was the first to open his blood-shot eyes and feel his splitting headache. His eyes were blinded by the rising sun, and his eyes were sealed shut. He kept them closed as he attempted to stand up, but found that something was holding him down. The swordsman opened one eye and glanced down at the object holding him down: Sheena.

"Sh-Sheena?" Lloyd exclaimed with red cheeks. The summoner didn't stir. He looked around to see if anyone else was awake. Once he made sure that nobody was watching, he held Sheena close to his chest with a hand on the back of her head and another around her shoulders.

She slowly opened her eyes at the feeling of warmth that swept through her, and looked up at Lloyd with a soft smile. "Good morning..."

Lloyd smiled, as well, "Yes it is..." They cuddled a little closer, and almost kissed when--

"Okay, everyone! Wake up and smell the leftover Palma Potion!" Zelos yelled, standing on top of the table with a finger pointing at the cieling.

--That happened...

Everyone moaned as they made attempts to fully wake themselves up. The couple laying down on the floor together, out of reflex, let go of eachother.

"Sheesh, get a room, you two!" Zelos said playfully as he walked over to Raine, who was face-down on the pink bean bag that they shared all last night.

"He recovers fast, doesn't he?" Lloyd said drowzily.

"Apparently..." Sheena replied as she stood up. She only just then realized that her blue garb was over on the floor near the window, and that she wasn't wearing it. She sprinted over to it and put her arms through the arm holes with embarrassment.

Lloyd just noticed that he only had his undershirt on, so he immediately grabbed his red shirt and put it on. "Sheena...?"

She paused, "...Yeah?"

"Last night... did we, um..."

"Yup! You guys had a really nice make out session!" Zelos yelled for all of Altamira to hear. Sheena slapped him with completely flushed cheeks.

Later, after everyone had successfully awakened, they walked down the long flight of stairs to the lobby where they met up with Kratos. He seemed as composed as he usually is, while everone else had hangovers. Zelos handed out his uber-secret hangover pill (the one he gave to Lloyd and Sheena after the whole engine room incident) and everyone was fine in a few minutes.

As they all headed out of the lobby and outside towards Regal's restaurant for breakfast, Lloyd noticed something. He looked around and said to everyone, "Hey, have any of you seen Colette?"

They stopped and faced him. "Come to think of it," Zelos said, tapping his chin with a finger, "There hasn't been as much tripping and falling these days. That could only mean that our little angel isn't here."

"I didn't see her last night at the party, either," Genis added.

"...I'm surprised that you remember _anything _from last night, squirt!" Zelos said, and patted Genis on the head. The magician batted the Chosen's hand away in annoyance.

"I can go and look for her," Lloyd volunteered. Everyone looked at him for a second.

"Go ahead," Kratos said flatly, and continued to walk to the restaurant.

"Be sure to catch up," Genis said, and followed Kratos. Sheena waved goodbye as Lloyd flew away, and he shot back towards the upper floors of the resort. He flew through the open balcony window of his party-torn room and landed. After traversing the messiness of the room, he made it to the hallway and walked to Colette's room.

"Colette!" He yelled as he knocked on the door. "Everyone's going out for breakfast. Do you wanna come?" There was silence on the other side of the door. "Hey, can I come in?" He eased the door open and stepped inside the brightly-lit room. Everything seemed orderly and tidy, like she always was. He could single out a few spots on the wall where she got face-planted, though. "Colette? You in here?" He searched thoughout the room, but didn't find anyone. Not even under the bed, which he, for some reason, looked under. When he was about to leave the room, he heard what sounded like a sniff coming from the closet. "What the hell...?" He slowly slid the sliding closet door open and looked down to see Colette sitting on the floor of the small closet. She was crying.

She looked up at the dumbfounded Lloyd. "What do you want...?" She said, looking away from him. Her eyes were red, as if she had been crying for quite some time.

"What's wrong, Colette? Why're you crying?" Lloyd asked urgently, kneeling in front of her.

"Just... go away, Lloyd..." She said sadly as another tear slid down the side of her cheek.

"Maybe I can help? Just tell me what's wrong, will you?" Lloyd urged her, though he already had an idea of what it could be.

She looked at him solemnly, and stood up in silence. Lloyd stepped to the side so that she could walk out of the closet and to a chair by the table. Once she sat down, Lloyd grabbed chair as well, and sat down next to her.

Colette wiped her tears away, sniffed, took a deep breath and said, "I'll just say it, Lloyd..."

"Sure. Go ahead."

She twiddled her fingers, and her cheeks flushed a deep red, "I love you!"

There was a long, awkward silence after she shouted those words. Lloyd, however, wore a rather dim expression.

He let out a sigh and said, "I hoped that you weren't going to say that, but..."

Colette buried her face in her hands and said, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry... I know that you're with Sheena now, and--"

"There's nothing to be sorry about. You can't choose who to love; it just happens, and there's nothing you can do about it. It must've felt good to finally get those words out of your system, huh?"

She suddenly realized that she had a somewhat uplifted feeling about herself. It was a much better feeling than when she was sobbing in the closet. "... You're right... So, Lloyd..." She reached for his hand. Just as one of her fingers touched his, he drew it away from her.

"Sorry, but like you said, I'm with Sheena now."

Colette had a hurt expression, and looked at the floor. "... Do you love her...?"

"W-what?" He looked at her with surprise.

"Do you love her?" She yelled.

"I-I guess that I do, but--"

"No buts!" She stood up from her chair and leaned towards him with frustration. "I wanted you to be happy loving me back, but since you can't, I want you to love Sheena as much as I love you, and be happy, okay?"

"A-alright! Alright!" _Where the hell did all of that anger come from?_ He thought.

"All I want is for you to be happy," She backed off and smiled at him, "and if giving you up so that you could be with Sheena helps, then I don't care."

He looked at her for a few seconds, and smiled as he stood up. "Okay, but as long as you're happy, too."

"Don't worry... I am." One last tear slid down her cheek, and they headed towards the door. "Wait, before I forget..."

"Hm?" Was all that Lloyd could say as Colette grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him in for a soft kiss on the lips. "Wha...?" She smiled shyly, and ran towards the door.

"Just one kiss will be okay for now. But if you break up with Sheena, then you'll come to me next, won't you?"

"Uh... sure..." He stared at her with disbelief as she happily skipped down the hallway. "Man, I should probably ask Zelos how to deal with this..."

------------------------------

**A/N:** I half blame my writers block, half school, and half my constant need to make AMVs for the lateness of this chapter... that makes three halves, but that somehow manages to make sense in my world, so I'm okay! I hope that you guys liked this chapter, cuz I went through hell and back, through hell again, stayed there for a few minutes, and came back again... Okay not really, I just had a hard time putting this chapter together, for some reason. I never was good at wrapping up story archs.

Anywho, I hope that you guys liked this chapter-- especially the drunkenness of all of the characters. I had a lot of fun writing that, but I wish that it was longer. Oh well. Look forward to the next chapter where everyone's going to go back on the yacht/EC and motor on over to Flanoir! Wait'll you read the stories I'm cooking up! See you next chapter!

**KingKamor**


	18. Snow Angels

**A/N:** I really hate school. I haven't been able to work on this for a long while because of it. I'm really really sorry, and I hope that you forgive me and continue to read my work! Now that it's the second semester of my Junior year, I'm starting out with a clean slate and all of my privileges ungrounded! By the way, I've been thinking about jpop songs that remind me of this fanfic, and I choose "Rolling Star" by Yui. I know that it's Bleach's most recent theme, but what the hay. If you have it, you should listen to it while reading this, since I listened to it as I wrote it.

Now, on to business.This chapter will have our favorite heroes continuing on their vacation with three distinct couples firmly established and known to everyone. Just sit back, read, and enjoy the chapter!

Celsius: What the hell took you so long?

Me: Um... unforseen life situations?

Ivan: That's no excuse to neglect me, too!

Me: Oh, come on! And after I drew five different expressions for you face!

Ivan: Joo must face d347h!

Me: Oh, fine. (when did he learn how to speak l33t?) As repentance, I'll commit seppuku! (pulls out a knife)

Raine: You did that before and it didn't work, remember?

Me: Oh, yeah... Anyway, I disclaim all characters, places, and things in this fanfic, for they belong to Namco Bandai.

Now, on with it!

* * *

**Chapter 18: Snow Angels  
**

The group had left the morning before on the Symphonia (the name of the yacht... remember that thing?) and were on their way to the islands around Flanoir. It was a starry night after the first day of floating across the vast ocean on the ship, and Sheena was standing on the bow of the yacht by herself. She had her hair down, and it was flitting in the wind as the boat rolled on along the soft waves. All that she wore was a thin red Mizuho night gown with floral designs on it, which she wore over her normal pajamas. It wasn't exactly the ideal wear for riding on a yacht in the middle of the night as it heads towards an icy region, but she was wearing the ruby ring, which made her feel nice and warm.

"Sheena?" The voice of a girl came from behind the ninja.

Sheena turned around to see Colette standing in front of her in her Klonoa pajamas. "Colette? What're you doing out so late?"

"I just couldn't sleep... What about you?"

"That same, I guess. The stars are fantastic tonight. Do you want to watch them with me?"

"Oh... okay!" The angel said reluctantly, and stood next to Sheena at the bow of the ship. They simply stood idly next to eachother whilst they looked up at the stars. The two of them were able to point out several constelations, and talked about the origins of them.

After several minutes of silence, Colette suddenly said, "Sheena...?"

"What is it?"

Colette fiddled her fingers and finally said, "Do you love Lloyd?"

Sheena slipped off of the railing and almost fell into the freezing ocean. "W-what?" She said with red cheeks, grasping the railing firmly.

"Do you love him?" She repeated, and faced Sheena with a serious look on her face.

The ninja was at a loss for words. She cleared her throat with a cough and said, "W-well, uh... I think that I love him..." She clasped her hands on her chest, her face almost completely red. "I mean, when I'm with him, I feel like anything can happen. And whether it was something fun, dangerous, or sad... I know that I would be happy as long as I'm with him..." She scratched the back of her head embarassingly. "I mean, I don't know if it's love, but he makes me feel at peace whenever I'm around him."

Colette looked at her, and then smiled as she turned back towards the stars. "Good. I wouldn't like it at all if I lost Lloyd to someone who doesn't love him."

"L-lost? It wasn't as if I meant to take him from you or anything!" Sheena said frantically, "it just kind of... happened, you know?"

The blonde turned around and walked down towards the rooms. "It's okay, Sheena... I just kind of 'happened' to love him, too." She continued to walk away, and trip, with Sheena watching her until she disappeared around the corner.

* * *

**The next day:**

It didn't take much effort to jolt Lloyd off the side of his bed, thanks to the booming roar of Zelos' new personal fog horn/loud speaker, which blared the Chosen's words: "It's time to get the up and smell the iceburgs, people!" followed by the Professor's voice saying, "Put that thing away already!" It was louder and clearer than the announcement system, and easily penetrated the impenetrable walls of the ship. Lloyd brushed himself off, and was able to hear Sheena cursing at Zelos from her bedroom nextdoor to his own. He smiled and buttoned up his striped pajama shirt as he opened the door to the outside deck. A rush of cold air slapped him in the face, and he closed the door immediately after an icicle formed on his nostril and the tips of his hair.

"Okay, time for a new route," He said to himself as he shivered and grabbed his usual red clothing. Luckily, he could travel throughout the ship through a single indoor hallway belowdecks. It connected all of the bedrooms with the engine room and bridge. Lloyd had hoped to get some fresh air, but in his failure to do so, headed to the hallway instead. Out of the corner of his eye, from the direction of the bridge, Zelos came towards him, hand-in-hand with Raine. He was wearing a funny new pirate had with a large, poofy white feather sticking out of it. Where or when he got it was anyone's guess.

"I think you're going a little overboard with the whole captain thing," Lloyd said as he tiredly rubbed his eye with his fist.

"You know you're just envious of my captainness!" Zelos said with a laugh.

"At least you're not wearing my eye-patch," Lloyd pointed out.

They stared at him for some time before Raine finally said, "Anyway, Regal's started making breakfast, so we should hurry to the kitchen."

"Alright," Lloyd said happily.

Somewhere down the hallway, Presea and Genis made their way to the kitchen together, as well. Genis was wearing plain light blue pajamas, and Presea was wearing pretty much the same thing with her surprisingly-long hair let down.

"How about that time when Lloyd and I tried to lift the sacred wood in Meltokio?" Genis asked.

"I can only partially remember that." Presea said, "What happened when you tried to lift it?"

Trying to save face, Genis quickly fabricated the following: "W-we lifted it up easily and brought it all the way to the front of the king's chamber!"

"Really? I didn't know that the two of you were so strong. I would have calculated that back then, it would have taken you, Lloyd, Sheena, and Zelos to lift it."

"Uh... Y-yeah, well, we're stronger than you think!" He crossed his arms proudly as they walked into the kitchen. He's such a bad liar, but Presea neglected to notice.

In the kitchen, where both the dining room and kitchen were, Regal had just finished making his gargantuan _Transcontinental Tethe'Allan Breakfast of Champions Buffet-- of Doom_. (Zelos added the last part) Even Lloyd was surprised at the shear amount of food that Regal laid on the long buffet table. The master chef had to cook at least seven different kinds of foods at once. He juggled sausage and bacon next to eachother on the stove while making three different styles of eggs on a separate stove altogether, made a large bowl of pancake batter on a large cooking tray, and timed each instance that the toast popped out of the toaster so that he could slip a plate underneath where they landed and insert two more slices. A few others, who were already awake, watched him in sheer amazement. Pietro, Kate, Colette, and Kratos were drooling at the sight of all of the delectable food. (Yes, even Kratos was drooling.)

It was when Lloyd, Zelos, and Raine walked in that Regal said, "Well? Dig in!" Everyone wiped the drool from their lips and quickly made a hungry, pushing, line-cutting, line of people at the end of the buffet table. When everyone piled food onto their plates, they sat in their seats and ate everything as fast as they could just to be able to taste it all. The only ones missing were Chocolat and Sheena.

Back in Sheena and Chocolat's room, Sheena was sprawled out in the bunk bed that she shared with Chocolat with one leg dangling over the side and her Mizuhonian night down askew. She was even snoring! There was a shake from below that startled her awake. "Chocolat...?" She looked down the side of the bunk at Chocolat, who had her hair down and was wearing a white Mizuhonian night down (which Sheena gladly provided).

"It looks like we overslept. Everyone's probably eating without us," Chocolat said with a smile.

Sheena stared at her drowzily for a few seconds before saying, "It's fine; Regal and Genis always cook too much stuff, anyway. There'll be more than enough left over for us." She turned over and pulled the covers back onto her body.

Chocolat yanked the bottom sheet out from under Sheena, making the ninja do a few spins in midair before slamming onto the floor face-first. "C'mon! Time to get up, you lazy sack of skin!"

Sheena held her nose in pain, "What the hell was that for?"

Everyone in the kitchen could hear the two of them yelling at eachother, and continued to eat.

* * *

**Some time later:**

"And _that's_ why you don't pull the bottom sheet out from underneath someone while they're trying to sleep!" Sheena said sternly with her finger pointed in the air. She and Chocolat were walking down the hallway of the ship towards the kitchen to get their long-awaited breakfast.

"Hm. I never thought of it that way..." Chocolat said with her hand on her chin.

"Wait, you can think?" Sheena joked.

"Shut up!" Chocolat yelled, and started to chase Sheena down the hall with smiles on their faces. They then entered the kitchen... Almost everyone was slumped over the backs of their chairs with the roundest bellies anyone had ever seen.

"Oh, God... This reminds me of my friend's fraternity house..." Sheena said with her hand palmed on her face.

"Yeah, but Colette looks fine," Chocolat said as she pointed at the blond angel, who had once again began to skip around the halls of the ship as she usually did.

"Yeah. Colette could eat as much as Lloyd and finish off the day like a hummingbird. _I_ however, need to watch what I eat. If I eat half of what they eat, then I'll be on the ground like a bear with a tranq dart in it."

Chocolat laughed and walked into the room to take her seat. "We'd better watch how much we eat then, huh?"

"Screw that, I'm on vacation."

The two of them ate without much talking between them. Sheena was about to strike up a good conversation, Zelos' voice blared over the announcement system, "Ice-ho, bumpkins! Hurry up the digestion so that you can leave the ship and onto Flanoir's snowy plains! And don't forget to bring your rheaird wing packs for the flight into town! We don't wanna walk in looking like tourists rather than uber-awesome heroes, do we, now?"

Sheena sighed as she finished her breakfast, and walked over to Lloyd, who had been vegitating in his chair ever since he finished his own meal. "Time to go, Lloyd," she said as she kissed him on the cheek, which seemed to perk him up to some level of normalcy.

"Alright, just give me time to get my coat. What'll you be wearing for the coldness?" He asked as he stood up.

"I'll be wearing one of my Mizuho kimonos." They continued to talk as they walked down the hallway to their respective rooms to gather their warmer clothes.Chocolat stayed at the table to finish her breakfast, alone. After a few more bites of her eggs, she put down her fork and rested her head on the table with a somber expression on her face.

"Everybody has someone now, don't they...?" She said to herself. "It's not really fair for me, though, since I was in those stinking Human Ranches for so long."

"I see your dilemma, Chocolat," Regal sounded from behind the kitchen counter. She whirled around to see him washing dishes in the sink rather loudly. How she didn't notice him was beyond her. "It can make you feel a little left out when it comes to love if the rest of your friends find it, yet you can't, for some reason."

"What do you know? You're, like, forty!"

Regal put down the plat he was washing and said, "I may be a little old now, but I still know how it feels when you meet someone you love for the first time. It really does feel amazing. You will be able to experience it someday, just like the others."

"I don't need advice from a guy who was in jail for a decade!"

He laughed. "Well, I _did_ have a love life back in the day, you know." He smiled a little at her and went back to his dish-washing.

Chocolat stood up from her chair and walked to her room in a huff. "What a load of crap..." She said as she grabbed her red snow jacket, which on the back had a large red heart with an arrow going through which said "Love Believer" written on it.

* * *

**Later in Flanoir:**

"Wow, everything's so bright here!" Kate said happily as she and Pietro walked under the archway into the city.

"Oh, yeah, you haven't ever been outside the laboratory in Sybak, have you?" Pietro said in remembrance.

"Hold your horses, love birds," Zelos said as he walked into the city with Raine, "We need to check in at the inn first, 'kay?"

Everyone else came into the city and headed towards the inn. Once inside, they shook off the snow from their boots and walked to the counter.

"We'll have eight rooms, if you will." Zelos said as he slapped his reservation papers on the counter.

"Of course, Chosen," the man behind the desk said respectfully.

"Eight...?" Lloyd said, confused.

"What's going on, Zelos?" Raine asked, "Why don't we each have our own room?" Everyone looked at him sternly and confusedly.

"Okay, okay, I'll spill it," He said with a laugh. "One room for Colette, one for Regal, one for Genis, one for Presea, and..." he pointed at Sheena, Lloyd, Pietro, and Kate, "Two rooms for the two respective couples over there, and..."

"Zelos!" Sheena shouted with flushed cheeks, her hand hurling towards him.

"I'm not finished! Hold yer damn horses!" He dodged Sheena's slap (for the first time ever!) and continued, "And one room for the Professor and I!" He put an arm around her happily.

"For the love of..." Raine said with annoyance, her hand covering her eyes.

"Why the hell do you keep pulling crap like this, Zelos?" Sheena yelled at him.

"If you must know, it's because if I can't have you or Kate, then Pietro and Lloyd may as well get a little nudge in the right direction!" He smiled and walked towards the exit of the inn, his arm still around Raine. "Now hurry up, bumpkins!" He apparently felt that he could do whatever he wanted... But hey, he was on vacation.

Everyone stared at his back with blank expressions.

"How does he do it...?" Pietro said solemnly.

Colette stole a glance in Lloyd's direction, and quickly went over and grabbed his arm. "Lloyd! let's go flying!" She pulled him forcably towards the door.

"H-hey! Wait a sec!" He yelled, but was helpless to stop her from yanking him outside.

"What're you doing, Colette?" Sheena chased after them, fumbling with her boots as she cursed how the length of her kimono kept her from running as fast. Just as she looked up from her boots at Colette, she saw the angel sticking her tongue out at her with a playful smile! "What... the...? That little sneak!" As the two angels ran out of the inn, Colette spread her wings and flew into the sky with Lloyd forcably in tow. Sheena yelled, "What's your problem, Lloyd?"

"How the hell's it my fault?" Lloyd said helplessly as he dangled from Colette's hand. He wrenched his hand from her grasp, and unfurled his blue wings before he fell too far. "I'll fly with you for a little while, if it'll make you feel better."

"Yay!"

They darted off towards the white, snowy plains of the island. Sheena pouted at the entrance of the inn, and walked back inside as everyone else went out of it.

"You okay, Sheena?" Chocolat asked.

"Hm? Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Kids and their games." She smiled a little.

"Hee hee, you just called your boyfriend a kid!" Chocolat laughed.

"Oh, shut up, will you? I was talking about Colette!"

* * *

**The Skies Over Flanoir:**

"Colette, you really need to give me a choice in these things, you know." Lloyd said with his arms crossed as they flew low to the ground across Flanoir's plains. It was a clear where they were, and clouds were only over the city of Flanoir and that general area of the large island.

"But it's more fun that way!" Colette said happily as she did a double-helix formation with him as they flew.

"Not when I was planning on resting at the inn with Sheena!"

"You spend all of your time with her now, Lloyd. I can't help but feel jealous of her."

Lloyd grumbled. He then did a flip so that he was facing backwards, and pushed off of the ground back towards Flanoir. "Okay, that's enough flying for today. I'm going back to the inn, okay?"

"Wait! Lloyd!" Before she could even finish saying his name, he had jetted off back into town. Colette was flying backwards with an angry look on her face. "Fine! Goodbye!" Just as she was going to turn around and continue flying, she felt herself crash into something. She didn't see it before, since it was apparently made of snow, just like the rest of the landscape. She also felt it cave in under the impact of her head. Her head smashed headlong through it until she came to a screeching stop on her face in the snow, and her legs flipped over her untl they plopped down into the snow.

She was facing the sky now, "Owwwww..."

"What the hell...?" A voice came from the thing she crashed into. She sat up and turned around to see a young man struggling to get out from under the snowy structure she had knocked over!

"An igloo...?" Colette said stupidly, ignoring the person until she heard him speak again.

"What happened...?"

"Oh! I'm sorry! Are you okay?" Colette ran over to the young man and started to wipe the snow off of him.

"Who're you...?" He looked up to her. He had light brown hair that covered hi left eye, a pointy chin, and blue eyes. He wore nothing but thin cotton pants, a thin leather shirt, and a ripped and torn cloak. Beside him was what looked like a large suitcase with a bunch of black belts wrapped around it.

"I'm Colette Brunel, the Chosen of-- wait, I'm not really the Chosen anymore, am I?" Before she could ask him his name, he gave his.

"The name's Jared Magnus, young lady," He grabbed her hand as if he were Zelos, and kissed it.

"Wha-wha-wha-what???" Colette babbled frantically, "I um--"

"Wanna go a night on the town, Ms. Bru--?" Suddenly, he face-planted into the snow.

Colette stared at him for a moment. "...What in the...?"

* * *

**In Flanoir:**

"You _didn't_!" Sheena said in disbelief at Lloyd's story.

"Yup! Genis and I put the Professor's matress in Iselia's pond!" Lloyd said proudly. "When she woke up, she swore that she would kill us when she got back to shore... which took about an hour to drift to the edge!" Sheena began cracking up at the story. They were in their room at the inn in their pajamas next to their own fire place. Raine admonished them on the grounds that they were being lazy, but hey, they're on vacation. They were still tired from the voyage there, since Zelos had a knack to start parties every night they were on the ship. At least they didn't drink or get locked in the engine room again. The two of them were cuddling on the couch next to the fire as they told stories. "What kind of things did you do int Mizuho besides training?"

"Oh, a lot of things," Sheena said happily. "I played with Orochi and Kuchinawa when we were kids, and when the season was right, my family and I watched the cherryblossoms together. I had a great childhood... up until I was twelve..."

"Sounds like it," Lloyd din't want to bring up any sad memories, since the moment just felt so right then. He turned his head towards her, looked into each other's eyes, and they kissed deeply. Sheena put her hand on his cheek, and Lloyd wrapped his arms around her. They kept kissing until Lloyd had to take a break for air, which was a surprisingly long time. Once he had taken a good breath, Sheena put a hand on the back of his head and pulled him in for another kiss.

Chocolat was in her room reading a book.Raine and Kate were in the lobby, talking in front of the fireplace over a cup of hot chocolate. They were talking about the origins of the summon spirits and the seals that Mithos put on them (big surprise). Zelos, Pietro, Kratos, and Regal were walking around the city, talking about what the hell a Pac-Man really is. Genis and Presea were making a snowman out in the front of the inn. They were the first ones to see Colette fly in with someone slumped over her shoulder.

"It's Colette." Presea said, as monotonous as usual.

"Colette!" Genis yelled happily. He waved to her as she landed inside the gate of the city. "Who's this guy?"

"I think that his name is... Jared... Something?" She said in a daze.

"Why's he unconcious?" Genis asked as he helped to set him down on the ground.

"He is suffereing from minor frostbite on his arms and legs. He is hyperventilating, and needs to be taken to someplace warm, and preferably a place to sleep. Raine should tend to him inside the inn, which will provide all of those things." She grabbed his legs, Colette took his arms, and they took him into the inn with Genis following closely behind.

As they walked inside, Raine saw them and yelled, "What's going on?"

"Professor! You need to heal this person!" Colette said frantically.

"Okay, I'll ask questions later." She grabbed her staff off of the table in which she and Kate were sitting at, and a magic circle appeared beneath her, "Healing Circle!"

Lloyd and Sheena came walking down the stairs. "What's going on, guys?" Lloyd asked.

"Yeah, what's with all of the yelling?" Sheena complained. They walked over to them to see the young man layed down on the floor.

"Who's this?" Lloyd asked as he eyeballed the young man suspiciously.

"I found him after you ditched me and came back here," Colette said rather coldly.

"'Ditched' you?" He'd never heard her say anything in that tone before.

"Yup. I was really upset."

Lloyd couldn't find any words to say to her, so he said instead, "I'll go and get the others. They might be able to help."

"I'll go, too," Genis said, and followed him.

They dashed out the door just as Chocolat came tromping down the stairs, yelling, "I can't read with all of this noise!" Then, she, too, noticed the young man on the floor. "Oh my God! What happened to this guy?" She ran down the stairs to him. Just as she took her place in the circle that surrounded him, he opened his eyes to see all of the girls standing over him.

"Heh. Looks live I've died and gone to heaven." He said, and closed his eyes again into unconciousness. The girls would've asked more questions, but hey, they're on vacation.

* * *

**A/N:** Yes! I've finally finished this chapter! Again, I'm sorry for the wait. Some of you will say that I don't have to say sorry, but I just feel the need to apologise. In the next chapter, we'll all learn of the origins of the young man named Jared Magnus (no relation to Magnius). He seems like another Zelos, but there is much more to him that meets the eye. Hope to see you next chapter! 


	19. The Man From Another World

**A/N:** (kicks down door) I'm back, baby!

I regret not coming back to this little fanfic sooner. I'll bet anything that the former readers of this story have moved on to bigger and better things, such as college, work, and getting a real life outside of fanfiction. But I just got a new laptop with a comfy new keyboard, and I'm raring to write something out. And what better way to scratch my itch than to finish this old thing? So here I am, coming back to the world of fanfiction to with a gaggle of new writing tricks up my sleeves. I hope that you guys enjoy this chapter as much as I will, cuz I'm back! (for the time being)

(Just as a reminder, a guy named Jared Magnus has just been stumbled upon by Colette, who brought him back to Flanoir with her.

Now, one with it!

* * *

**Chapter 19: The Man from Another World**

All that Jared saw was a black void before him. How did a simple tread through the woods outside his home suddenly beam him into a snowy wasteland? On top of that, how did a girl with angel wings come flying into his makeshift house right after he'd built it? He had no idea what had just happened to him accept for the memory of cold, shivering, blackness, and several women who stood over him before he passed out the second time. He remembered them the most, for obvious reasons.

"Hey... You still alive?" Someone called from beyond the black abyss. It was a girl's voice. He would have reciprocated if he'd still had a means to speak, but he wasn't constious enough to know how to talk anymore. "Wake up, already!" A hot stinging feeling erupted on the side of his face, which threw him from the abyss and into what looked like a hotel room. He was still cold, but felt himself covered in a thick blanket with a pillow placed under where he lay his head. "About time you got up." He glanced to the side of the bed to see a strange teenage girl sitting with her legs crossed on a stool. She was covered in blue skin and tattoos, a surprisingly small amount of clothing for such cold weather, and piercing blue eyes.

"Who're you...?" He said with a strained voice.

She scoffed. "You'll call me Celcius, human." She sounded annoyed.

"'Celcius?'" He echoed. "That's an odd name, little lady."

He noticed her twitch at the 'little lady' comment. "Watch it, boy, I've lived at least a thousand of your lives." She stood up from the stool and headed for the door. "You've slept for a whole day. I figured that it'd be okay to smack you around a bit to wake you up. The others are discussing where you may have come from, and what to do with you."

"What to do with me?"

"Yes. Our scholar, Raine, is curious as to who you might be. She said that that left eye of yours isn't natural, too." She pointed at him with an accusing look. His left eye bore a scar that stretched from his hair line, over his eye, and to the middle of his cheek. The eye wasn't blue like the other one, more of a muddy red color, and the usual white was a dark smoke-like gray.

Jared closed his left eye out of reflex. It was usually covered, but he'd lost his eye patch when he was hit by the blond. He chuckled, and tossed the comforter off so that he could stand up. "Actually, I'd be more interested in who you all are first. I'm not the one who wrecked your house."

Celcius waved for him to follow her, so he did. It was only then that Jared had noticed that his clothes had been changed into pajamas. _How nice of them_, he thought to himself. With each step, his frostbitten feet seemed to hurt more, as if knives had replaced the bones in his limbs. The trek down the stairs didn't help. Why was he the one going to them, anyway? Wasn't it always the uninjured people who went to see the injured one they needed to talk to? Such questions went through Jared's mind as he and the blue-skinned Celcius stepped down into the lobby. The first thing that Jared immediately noticed was that there were exactly seven women there, counting Celcius. Lucky number seven. All of them beauties, too. The pink-haired one was a little young, but he could tell that she was getting there.

"Score," he said under his breathe with an almost unnoticeable smirk.

"Did you say something?" Celcius said.

"No, why?"

"Ugh. Never mind."

Lloyd stood up from his chair next to Sheena, as did the Professor, and walked towards Jared. He seemed a little taken aback at Lloyd's strange red clothing.

"Hi, I'm Lloyd," he said, and held out his hand to shake Jared's.

He shook his hand, and said, "Yeah, nice to meet you."

"So you're alright?" Raine asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just still a bit jostled from when the blond girl crashed into me." He casually pointed at Colette, who tried not to pay attention to him.

"I see. In any case, I'd like to ask who you are."

"Of course. I'm Jared Magnus, from the Lavana continent. So, which fragment is this, anyway? Idai Na?"

Everyone stared at him with confused expressions.

Genis said, "Lavana? I've never heard of a continent called that. What countries are in it?"

"Meh. I didn't expect you guys to know. The countries are Hezara, Kyzmora, Budo, and Kemri. I, myself, am from Kyzmora. We're one of the largest fragments, so it's kind of hard to miss, but I haven't been able to see the night sky clearly with the clouds lately." Everyone stared at him as if he were insane. He looked around the lobby at all of the faces and said, "What?"

Sheena said, "I've never even heard of any of these places. And what do you mean by fragments? You aren't making any sense."

"Yes," Raine said with a hand on her chin and a furrow on her brow, "Might this be another world that we don't yet know about?"

"Wait, wait, wait. Slow down." Zelos said, "Don't jump to conclusions here, people. Maybe Colette just hit him a bit too hard?" She shot a glare at the fellow Chosen.

"So... I'm not on another fragment...?" Jared said. His color in his skin began to drain. "Then where the hell am I?"

"You're in Flanoir," Celcius replied, "A city in a frozen wasteland in the far north of the globe."

"'Globe?'" He yelled, as if accusing her. "There hasn't been a globe _left_ of the world since--" He stopped, as if something had frozen every muscle in his body. He stood straight up with a palm on his forehead and said, "Shit, so this was what Kaldel was talking about...?"

Raine walked up to him and said, "Take it easy, Jared. It looks like we have much to discuss. We'll continue this in your room."

"Sounds good," Lloyd said, "Come on, everyone."

Raine led a shaken Jared up the stairs and down the hall of the second floor with Lloyd and everyone else following behind them.

Kate tugged on Pietro's coat sleeve. "Pietro, what's going on? I'm still having trouble understanding how Mithos separated our two worlds, so what's this about a possible third world?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "I was going to ask you the same thing. I have no idea."

It didn't take Raine long to tell Jared an abridged tale of how their two worlds came to be one again. Jared seemed confused at first, but after a short sequence of questions and answers between he and Raine, he finally understood. Afterwards, he remained deep in thought in his bed for some time before finally speaking up.

"My guessing that this Mithos guy actually tried to form three worlds," Jared said.

"Three?" Colette echoed in a mystified tone.

"I've heard of no such thing, human," Celcius said with an accusing frown. "I've lived to see this world as one, split apart, and reformed. Where is your proof that there was a third world?"

"Well, uh, I have no proof, but... Mithos was the villain. And it's just illogical for the villain to tell you absolutely everything. I mean, that's just too much of a cliche. It would be especially stupid of he told you of all of his failures on a scale as big as this one. My world must have been left behind for some reason, or left in some alternate dimension."

Raine scratched her chin, "You seem to be very intelligent, Jared."

"Thank you." He smiled widely. "I trained my mind and body with the Royal Knights of Hezara."

"But I have been wondering what you meant earlier by 'Fragments.' What are they?"

"Oh, my world was virtually destroyed some centuries ago."

Everyone in the room wore a bewildered look, as if Jared were crazy.

"Hey, don't give me that look. A large-scale spell was cast on my world before it happened. It allowed the leftover pieces of the world to live on, apart from each other, and we live on them as if they were asteroids floating through space. We of that world call them Fragments. Think of a globe that has been shattered. The pieces that composed the outer shell of the planet still have people living on them with plants, gravity, atmosphere, everything. As if everything were right as rain."

The others in the group trembled, Raine especially."What... kind of world... Has such fascinating magic?" She shouted so loud that the walls shook and dust fell in columns from the ceiling.

"What are you--"

"How can such a spell exist in your world? I've never heard of any spell like that! How does it work? Are there magic circles involved? Are there elves in your world, or are there humans, or are there both humans and elves, or are there half-elves? Tell me everything!" Raine was completely out of control. Jared could have sworn that he saw stars in her eyes.

Jared was no longer interested in getting to know the ladies, and felt like showing off a little instead. "Okay, first of all, every human there can use a personal magic power, based on his or her parents' genes."

"Jeans?" Lloyd asked, looking down at his pants.

Sheena bonked him on the top of the head with the back of her hand. "He means genetic traits."

"... Oh, I get it!" He smiled and scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.

Jared stared at them and sighed before continuing. "Anyway, I, myself, have what is known as wave magic."

"Oooohhh!" Raine sounded with intense interest. "What can you do? Can you show me?"

"Yeah, hold your horses, crazy lady." He held up his arms in front of himself, and tapped each finger to the opposite fingertip on each hand. When he separated them, streams of crackling electricity flowed between each set of fingertips. "I can control the flow of electrical energy through my own body. This ability allows me to move very quickly without tiring too fast as long as I use precision when I control the flow, or 'waves,' of energy in my body."

"That's pretty cool, actually." Zelos said, stepping closer to the edge of the bed to get a closer look at the sparkling electricity. "It's not much compared to what the brat can do, though."

"I'm not a brat," Genis said with annoyance, but it was a compliment, so he just ran with it.

Jared snickered. "Yeah, I've seen what the people of this world can do. I watched the monsters in the snow fields use ice spells and such. Pretty interesting stuff. But do all of your spells require magic cirlces?"

Raine said, "Generally, yes. But I can perform basic healing arts using only a staff, and I can enhance their effects with objects like the Unicorn horn."

"I see. We, too, use magic circles for various spells, but we use our own inborn magic to form the circles themselves." He held up one hand with it's palm to the ceiling. Electricity sparked from his fingers and thrust into the air as if it were dozens of snakes of lightning. They converged into a flat circle with a symbol inside of it. At almost the same instant the magic circle was complete, a small fire about the size of a torch's flame burst forth and stayed suspended in midair.

Everyone in the room marveled at the sight. Jared was just glad that they hadn't asked him about his left eye, which he had to struggle to keep closed.

Genis pushed his way to the front of the crowd. "But one thing doesn't make sense. Why would the way magic works change from your world to ours?"

Jared dispersed the ball of fire, and everyone calmed down again. Raine said, "That's a good question, but..." She looked at Jared, "... but can you show us more?!"

* * *

**Later that evening:**

"You called this city Flanoir, correct?" Jared asked Colette as they stood at the viewing area in front of the cathedral, which had been shut down since the reunification. He had bought a coat, amazed at how well it was made compared to the clothing in his world, and borrowed Lloyd's boots and Zelos' snow pants. He used a spare strip of cloth to tie over his eye and around his head like a headband. He and Colette had gone around the city, seeing sights and shopping for various necessities. There was a flower shop that had a yellow flower that Colette seemed to have her eyes on, but the pair had to go to their next errand before she could get it.

"That's right. We came here a few times during our journey." Colette said with a smile. She would much rather have been with Lloyd at the time, but Jared had specifically asked her to show him around the city.

Jared nodded his head. "It's beautiful. Most of the cities back in my world were built on top of older cities that were worn and broken from when the Fragments came to be. It's a breath of fresh air to see something that wasn't built on top of tragedy."

Colette frowned at the thought. "I'm just glad that you're alright. I was scared that I really hurt you when I ran into you yesterday."

He laughed. "Don't worry. I've been through a kind of journey of my own in my world. A war, actually, so I'm built pretty tough. I promise." He took a step closer to the railing, feeling the fresh snow crunch under the weight of his foot until it touched the hard cobblestone underneath. "But man, this world is so much more advanced than mine! I never want to leave!"

"Your world sounds amazing, though, Jared!" Colette walked up next to him with her usual smile on her face.

He turned his head and looked down on her, noticing that he was at least a whole head taller than her, and said, "It's really not that amazing, Colette. We just got finished with a war that spanned throughout one of the largest Fragments, and ended up killing millions of people. I'm just glad that I ended up here of all places. And during times of peace, of all times! I love it! And most of all..." he paused, turned towards Colette, and lifted the cloth from over his left eye. "I can finally stop using this eye, and slow down for once."

"Why wouldn't you want to use your eye?" She asked out of curiosity.

"Oh. It's special. I was cut by a magic sword right after my magic awakened within me. My friend managed to heal it shortly after, so my eye kept extra properties related to my power."

She tried her best to understand the sequence of events. "So... what can it do?" She smiled.

"Want me to show you?"

She nodded her head, and put her hands together in excitement.

He sighed. "Okay, then." He lifted up his hand and caught a large snowflake in his palm. "Hold this in your hand. But keep it so that I can see it. Analyze it's intricacies, it's pattern, it's size, everything. I'll try to steal it from you without breaking it."

She complied, albeit with a hint of scepticism.

"Close your hands around it on three," he said as he lifted his eye patch from his left eye. She nodded her head. "One... Two... Three!" She closed her hands around the snowflake.

"... Was that it? What happened?"

He smiled, "Check your hands."

Colette stared at him, confused, and peered between her hands. "What?" Nothing was there. Before she could look back up, Jared held out his hand to her, with the same snowflake resting in his palm. "H-how did you--?"

"I call it Ultimate Sight. Your eye works by taking images over and over, producing a series of frames that your brain analyzes. This eye produces a near-infinite number of these frames per second. When I use it, everything is standing still to me."

Colette looked at the snow between them, and saw an extra set of footsteps that weren't there before. Off to the side was another set that led down towards the stairs away from the cathedral. She looked at Jared again, who was holding up a yellow flower.

"You were looking at this earlier... right?" He said with a smile.

* * *

**A/N:** I had a lot of fun getting back to this fanfic. I have no idea why I'd stopped it in the first place, but it feels good to be working on it again. I hope that at least a few of my old subscribers read this. If anyone leaves a new comment at all, then I'll be the happiest writer in the world.

And before anyone asks, the answer is no... This is most definitely NOT the end of this fanfiction! (Gotcha, didn't I?) I may be going to college, but come on! There's still the entirety of the "Get-My-OC-Back-to-his-Own-Damn-World" arc to finish up! Again, if anyone comments on this, or even reads this, it would make my year!

Peace, people!


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